Vehicles can’t wait more than 10 seconds at toll booths: NHAI guidelines

To ensure decongestion at toll plazas and limit service time per vehicle to 10 seconds, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued a new set of guidelines.

Under the guidelines, vehicles will not be allowed to queue up for more than 100 metres from toll plazas. If the queue waiting at the toll plaza is more than 100 metres, the vehicles will be allowed to pass until the queue comes to the desired stretch.  A yellow line will cut at a distance of 100 metres from the toll plaza in each toll lane for easier operation.

The guidelines have been implemented to make toll booth employees accountable for decongestion of roads and to ensure free-flowing traffic across highways.

Related news: Fasttag: Your pass to hassle-free highway movement

Reports say the guidelines are part of the government’s initiative to design and construct upcoming toll plazas as per traffic projections for the next 10 years.

NHAI implemented the FASTag system in 2017 to ensure seamless transition of vehicles across borders. The system, built on a radio frequency identification technology, does away with the long wait at toll booths by ensuring automatic payments as and when required.

NHAI claims that the penetration of FASTag at toll plazas has reached 98 per cent while many plazas have 99 per cent penetration. Many have turned to the online option to ensure physical distancing during COVID.