Page 26 - TT July Issue for Digital Edition

ROAD SAFETY

Illuminating

the Challenges

Street Lighting

on India’s National Highways

National Highways, the lifelines of India’s vast
road network, play a crucial role in transporting
people and goods across the country. However,
ensuring safety on these highways, especially

during nighttime travel, poses a significant
concern. Street lighting plays a vital role in this;
however not devoid of challenges.

Lt. Col. Sunil Purohit, Head, Operations,
Maple Highways, looks at the lighting
standards, current status of highway street
lighting, factors influencing lighting decisions
and the challenges in operating and maintaining

highway lighting. Lt. Col. Purohit has over 15
years of experience in the operations of road
assets across the country.

he highway lighting Lighting Standards and a) IS 1944-1 & 2 (1970): This
challenges need to be Practices on National covers lighting for main and
seen in the light of the fact secondary roads (Group A). It
that Highways in India Highways in India emphasizes principles like:
spur residential growth National Highways in India
T and ribbon developments follow guidelines set by the i) Drivers should have clear
where the highways get Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) visibility without needing
extended. It is also equally true in the code IS 1944: Code of headlights.
that serious attention is not paid Practice for Lighting of Public ii) Lighting should appear
to segregate local traffic from Thoroughfares. This code is continuous and uniform, with
highway traffic thereby creating divided into various parts, with special attention to critical
numerous zones of conflicts at specific sections relevant to areas like bends, junctions,
all times. National Highways being: and bridges.

26 TRAFFICINFRATECH / July 2024 / www.trafficinfratech.com