DPR for up gradation to 2-lane/2-lane with paved shoulders of Final Detailed Project Report Paonta Sahib – Guma section of NH- 72B in Himachal Pradesh EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ES.1.1 GENERAL The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH), an apex organization under the Government of India, is entrusted with task of formulating and administering, in consultation with other Central Ministries/Departments, State Governments/UT Administration, Organizations and individuals, policies for Road Transport, National Highways and Transport Research with a view to increase the mobility and efficiency of the Road Transport system in the country. The Ministry has two wings: Road wing and Transport wing. The Road wing deals with development and maintenance of National Highways and Transport wing deals with matter relating to Road Transport. The Road wing of MORTH has taken up massive development work of existing National Highways in the country. Up gradation, improvement, widening and strengthening of main and important arteries of National Highway network is taken up under ‘National Highway Development Programme’(NHDP). About 19702 km single lane or intermediate lane National Highways (non-NHDP roads) exist in the country. Also substantial length of such National Highways has already been taken up for improvement in one scheme or the other but 5937 km stretches are not covered for improvement under any scheme. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways with an aim to improve interconnectivity has under taken development of about 3800 km single or intermediate lane National Highways to 2 lane/2 lane with hard shoulders configuration under National Highways Interconnectivity Project (NHIIP) aided by the World Bank. The total No of Project Roads under this scheme is 33 including Paonta - Guma Section of NH 72 B in Himachal Pradesh. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH), as the employer has commissioned the Consultancy Services of Consulting Engineers Group Ltd, Jaipur (CEG), for Preparation of Detailed Project Report for Rehabilitation and Upgrading to 2 Lane/2 Lane with paved shoulder configuration and strengthening of Paonta Sahib Guma(Cement Factory) Section of National Highway No. 72 B in the State of Himachal Pradesh(Package No. SP/C/5) The main objective of the consultancy service is to establish the technical, environmental, social, economical, and financial viability of the project and prepare detailed project reports for rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing intermediate /single lane road to 2-lane/2-lane with paved shoulders configuration and/or its strengthening. The requirement of paved shoulder along with up gradation to2 lane is to be finalized based on the traffic levels. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways ES-1 Consulting Engineers Group Ltd DPR for up gradation to 2-lane/2-lane with paved shoulders of Final Detailed Project Report Paonta Sahib – Guma section of NH- 72B in Himachal Pradesh The following reports and documents are to be submitted as per Terms of Reference: Stage I : Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) Document (submitted) ; Inception Report (Submitted) Stage II: Draft Feasibility Report (Submitted); Strip Plans and Report (Submitted); Final Feasibility Report. Stage III : Draft Detailed Project Report (DPR) ; Final Detailed Project Report. ES.1.2 THE PROJECT ROAD The total length of NH 72 B is 161 km, out of which 110 km runs in Himachal Pradesh and 51 km in Uttarakhand and starts from junction with NH 72 at BadriChowk in Paonta Sahib connecting Rajban, Shillai, Minus, Guma in Himachal Pradesh, Tuini in Uttrakhand and terminating at Hatkoti in Himachal Pradesh. The Project Road, section of NH 72 B, starts at BadriChowk in Paonta Sahib at km 10.560 (chainage of SH 1) and ends at Guma (Cement Factory) at km 124.000(chainage of SH 1). From km 97.150 to 119.00, instead of following SH 1, the Project Road follows 2 link Roads of length 3 km each, one falling in Sirmour district and other in Shimla district. The total length of project road as per existing chainage is 97 km and passes entirely through Himachal Pradesh. Total length as per design comes out to be 95.262 km. ES.1.3 SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF THE AREA The socio-economic profile in the chapter 2, provides an overview of the demographic status, the level of urbanization, the land use pattern, the occupational pattern, the income levels, the employment patterns, the vulnerability levels in terms of the human and gender development, concentration of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, poverty levels in the state, as well as the agricultural development, understanding the likely social impacts of the project on regional development. Himachal Pradesh spread over an area of 55673 km2 which is 1.69% of country’s area. It is located between 30º18' and 30º29' North latitude and between 75º10' and 77º36' East longitude. Himachal Pradesh is almost wholly mountainous with altitudes ranging from 350 meters to 6,975 meters above the mean sea level. It has a deeply dissected topography, complex geological structure and a rich temperate flora in the sub-tropical latitudes. Five perennial rivers Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Yamuna posses’ immense potential for the generation of hydro-electricity. The Project Highway traverses through two districts viz. Sirmaur and Shimla. About 89 km of the highway is in Sirmour district and rest about 8 km is in Shimla district. Paonta Sahib is a major town and Sataun, Kamroo, Kafota and Shillai are other but Ministry of Road Transport and Highways ES-2 Consulting Engineers Group Ltd DPR for up gradation to 2-lane/2-lane with paved shoulders of Final Detailed Project Report Paonta Sahib – Guma section of NH- 72B in Himachal Pradesh small towns situated along the Project Highway. Isolated small villages are also situated all along the length of the road. Shimla , the State capital has an area of 5131 sq km which constitutes 9.22% of the total area of the State. It is bounded by Mandi, Kullu and Kinnaur district from North, Uttarakhand State from East, Sirmaur distict from South and Solan district from West. It is situated at an altitude ranging from 300 to 6000 meters above mean sea level. ES.1.4 TRAFFIC STUDIES AND ANALYSIS Classified Traffic Volume Counts After studying the existing road network, major generation and dispersal point, the project corridor divided into three homogenous sections with assumption that same traffic will ply in the section. CVC have been done at 3 locations each in km 23, km 43 and km 76. CVC in km 13(Paonta Sahib town) was also conducted to understand the traffic congestion in the town. Turning Movement Survey Turning movement count has been done at major crossings. The project road makes junction with NH 72 in Paonta Sahib at km 10.56. The junction is cross type. Other major junction is at km 29.38 where MDR to Renuka makes a Y type junction. The daily approach volume at km 10.56 is 17285 PCU and at km 29.38 is 3274 only. The peak hour volume is 1865 PCU at km 10.65 and 368 PCU at km 29.38. Origin Destination Survey Origin and Destination survey was carried out at 2 locations i.e. in km 23 and km 31. Commodity movement pattern on this corridor shows that there is considerable movement of lime stone from quarry, food items, textile products, and cement items, in addition to other goods like perishable goods and consumer products etc. Zone- wise analysis of freight vehicles shows that the maximum share of the trips for goods vehicles are originated from or destined to the Paonta Sahib. On the corridor, 11 to 23% of the vehicles have a lead of more than 100 km. Axle Load Survey Axle Load Survey was carried out at one location on the project road to assess the overloading pattern on the corridor and Vehicle Damage Factor for the Pavement design. The 2-axle trucks on the project road are over loaded. The up going trucks are generally carrying consumables or going empty to the lime stone mines. The VDF value for up going trucks is around 2.15. Trucks moving down wards carrying lime stone are invariably over loaded to 2 to3 times of permitted load. The VDF of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways ES-3 Consulting Engineers Group Ltd DPR for up gradation to 2-lane/2-lane with paved shoulders of Final Detailed Project Report Paonta Sahib – Guma section of NH- 72B in Himachal Pradesh downward traffic is as high as 39. The overloading of Trucks is to be restrained by enforcement of law. However for design purposes the V.D.F has been taken as 2.5 as recommended in IRC 37. Other Traffic Surveys In addition to above traffic surveys, Speed and Delay surveys have been carried out to find journey time and delays, Truck parking survey has been carried to find out suitable locations for truck parking areas and Pedestrian/Animal cross count to assess the requirement of any control measures. Traffic Forecasting Growth Rate and Traffic Projection Historical growth and elasticity transport demand were adopted as two basic parameters for traffic growth forecast. The registration number plate survey shows that Himachal Pradesh is contributing 49% and neighboring states Haryana and Uttarakhand are contributing 37% and 4% respectively and rest of the country is contributing 10% only. For calculating the growth rate of the goods vehicle the consultant have considered the NNP and NSDP of the contributing states. The mode wise traffic projections for each manual count station location were obtained using the growth. ES.1.5 ENGINEERING SURVEYS AND INVESTIGATIONS The main objective of Engineering Surveys and Investigation is to examine the general character of the area, general feature and condition of existing road and structures, characteristics of embankment, sub grade and road crust, source of construction materials and their suitability, geotechnical aspect of soil/rock for foundation of road and cross drainage etc for the purpose of determining the most feasible, cost effective design and estimation of the project.