Earlier two road development plans led to two shortcomings:
(i) 1st two plans were not conceived to meet the needs of freight & passenger movement by road.
(ii) The plans were not part of the total transportation plan for the country.
Features of Lucknow Road Plan
• Roads should be classified for India as follows: (a) Primary system : (i) Expressways (ii) National Highways. (b) Secondary system : (i) State highways (ii) Major District Roads. (c) Tertiary system (Rural Roads) : (i) Other District Roads (ii) Village Roads. (Read Also: –Types of Roads).
• Road length for the year 2001 should be 27,00,000 km giving a density of 82 km/100 sq. km.
• An all-weather road should connect all villages or groups of villages with a population of 500 and above by 2001. For villages with less than a population of 500, the road network shall be so planned as to result in an all-weather road being available at a distance of less than 3 km in plain areas and 5 km in hilly terrain.
• Expressways should be constructed on major traffic corridors to provide speedy travel.
• National Highways should form a square grid of 100 km x 100 km.
• State Highways should be extended to serve the district headquarters, sub-divisional (taluka) headquarters, major industrial centres, places of commercial interest, places of tourist attraction, major agricultural market centres and ports.
• The Major District Roads should serve and connect all towns and villages with a population of 1,500 and above.
• The other District Roads should serve and connect villages with a population of 1,000 to 1,500.
• Energy conservation, environmental quality of roads and road safety measures were also given due importance in this plan.
• Selection of specifications should be done based on
(i) Their amenability to stage construction.
(ii) The need to adopt appropriate technology.
(iii) The use of local materials.
(iv) The use of soil-stabilization techniques.
(v) The use of alternative binders.
(vi) The use of cement concrete pavements wherever economically feasible, and
(vii) The need to conserve bitumen.
The following formula gives the lengths of various classes of roads as per the above guidelines:
1. Length of NH (in kin) = (area/10000) = (area in sq.Km/50)
2. Length of SH (in km) = (area in sq.Km/25 )
or Length (in km) = 62.5 x Number of towns with a population above 5,000 – (area in sq. km/50)
3. Length of MDR (in km) = (area in sq. km/12.5)
or Length (in km) = 90 x Number of towns with population above 5,000.
4. Total road length (in km) = 4.74 x Number of villages and town.
5. Rural Road Length (in km) = This can be calculated by finding the total road length and subtracting the other categories.
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