Tamil Nadu CM Stalin announced that the CM’s Rural Road Development Scheme would be extended for two years, which includes upgrading, strengthening and maintaining 10,000 km of village Panchayat and Panchayat union roads. The initiative will have a budget of Rs.40 billion. Stalin said an initial announcement of `40 billion in January last year had facilitated the strengthening of 8,120 km of rural roads in the last two years. In the recent financial budget, the state government had sanctioned `10 billion under the scheme. Govt plans dedicated two-wheeler lanes,over bridges to reduce road accidentsThe road transport ministry is working on a plan to build dedicated lanes for two-wheelers on the state highways and urban roads and pedestrian foot over bridges (FOBs) or underpasses along major urban arterial roads. Non-segregation of traffic is the main cause of high number of crashes in India. As per government statistics, nearly 44 percent of the road crashes and fatalities in India involve two-wheelers. Similarly, around 17 percent of road crashes and 19 percent fatalities involve pedestrians. Pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheeler riders are categorised as vulnerable road users (VRUs) and over half of the people killed on road fall under this category. The road transport ministry circulated a consultation paper titled ‘SAFE’ to reduce road crashes and deaths. Slope stabilisation techniques to prevent landslidesThe State Highways Department said that slope stabilisation techniques implemented in the Nilgiris, through “soil nailing” and “hydro-seeding” are expected to prove to be a significant success in preventing landslides. Slopes prone to landslides are “nailed” with reinforced steel bars fixed into the soil. Cement and sand is poured into the holes to ensure that the bars adhere to the slope. Then hydro-seeding, a “method of using seed slurry by mixing grass seeds, mulch and water is sprayed onto slopes. Under ideal conditions, the top soil of slopes gets covered with a layer of grass that prevents top soil erosion. The slopes are reinforced with steel wire mats called geogrid. The slopes will then need to be maintained for around three months.  Srinagar-Leh NH  lacks basic trauma care facilitiesSrinagar-Leh National Highway, the lone road link connecting Kashmir with Ladakh through Zojila Pass, lacks adequate basic trauma care facilities, reducing the chances of survival in case of accidents along the lengthy highway. Every year, scores of deaths are caused due to accidents which could be significantly brought down with a robust trauma system, which is not up to the mark. On the highway from both the Kashmir and Ladakh sides, there are hardly any trauma care facilities. Accidents near Zojila Pass and beyond compel people to transport trauma victims directly to Srinagar, requiring a journey of over 110 km. Although the health department’s designated trauma centre had an operation theatre installed 10 years ago, it is still not functional.NHAI to enhance road safety by deploying AITo enhance road safety, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (Delhi) to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions for improvement in the availability of road signs on national highways. As a part of the agreement, IIIT Delhi will conduct surveys for collecting imagery and other data related to availability and condition of road signages on selected national highways stretches. The tentative length to be covered under this project will be around 25,000 km. The data collected through surveys will be processed by IIIT Delhi through the deployment of Artificial Intelligence.Contact: NHAIWebsite: www.nhai.gov.in