Plans for better anti-crash infra nixed

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has dropped plans for better anti-crash infrastructure citing high purchase and maintenance cost. Had it been instituted, better anti-crash infrastructure would have led to less damage when cars crashed, thereby controlling the extent of injury to passengers.

MSRDA had initially planned to bring in the Brifen Wire Rope Safety Barrier (WRSB) which comprises high-tension steel cables. A fence containing these wires had already been erected along 25km however MSRDA found it very costly and tough to maintain as this was the first time such equipment was being used in India.

An official said, “Three cables run parallel along either side of the expressway and in the median. These are good but the problem is that they have to be brought in from the United States where the company making and supplying them is based.”

Explaining the advantages of Brifen, he said, “It is equipped to handle a 2,000 ton vehicle crashing into it at a speed of 80 to 100 kmph. It is such that the nose of the car does not smash as much as it does in case of other infrastructure, thereby controlling the extent of injury, especially to the driver and the passenger next to him.”

Sources from MSRDC said that there was no political will to bring in Brifen. The official said, “There is a reason that most American highways have Brifen fencing. Also, their speed limits are more flexible than those in India and most of their cars are high performance ones.”

MSRDC managing director R.L. Mopalwar denied these claims saying, “We follow the Indian Road Congress and their specifications where Brifen doesn’t fit.”