State-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued guidelines to standardise design and infrastructure for multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolling on national highways of four lanes and above to facilitate a seamless, technology-led, barrier-free toll collection system.

In a statement, NHAI has said that the guidelines will ensure that upcoming and ongoing national highway projects are equipped to support MLFF-based, barrier-free toll collection without requiring vehicles to stop at toll booths.

The initiative is aimed at eliminating traffic queues and waiting time, reducing fuel consumption at toll plazas while making national highway journeys safer and more seamless, it has added.

The guidelines prescribe uniform requirements for toll plaza layouts, lane configuration, gantries, road infrastructure, lighting, signage and supporting facilities.

It also lays down an implementation framework for upcoming and ongoing National Highway projects.

The policy circular lays down standardised guidelines for the layout and infrastructure of barrier-less toll plazas across different configurations of national highways.

These guidelines broadly prescribe the plaza layout, number of tolling lanes, provision and placement of gantries and associated road safety features, signage and lighting arrangements to ensure uniformity in the design and facilitate seamless implementation of barrier-less tolling across the country.

With vehicles being tolled without the need to stop at physical barriers, the number of lanes required at a toll plaza has been rationalised in comparison to conventional toll plazas, facilitating more efficient utilisation of available space and improving traffic movement through the tolling zone.