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PREPARATION OF CORE NETWORK
BACKGROUND
This Note is an extension of the "Manual for Preparation of District Rural Roads Plan", which was circulated in June 2001 by the Ministry of Rural Development. The main objective of the Manual was to assist the States in preparation of the District level Master Plan for Rural Roads. It was also intended to bring about a basic uniformity of approach and transparency in the planning process for the Roads to be developed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The aim of the present Note is to assist the states in establishing a Core Network of Rural Roads.
I Core Network - Definition
2. Core Network is the Network that is essential to provide Basic access to each habitation. It can also be defined as the network of all the Rural Roads that provide Basic access to all the Habitations. Basic access is defined as the single all-weather road connectivity to each Habitation. As already indicated, the effort under the PMGSY is to provide single all-weather road connectivity to each Habitation by way of connecting it to another Habitation having all-weather connectivity or to an all-weather road, in such a way that there is access to, inter alia, Market Centres (see Para 8 below).
3. A Core Network is identified out of the total Network of existing Roads and tracks, and this must be maintained in good condition at all times to ensure basic access to all the Habitations. Please note that the Core Network consists of existing roads as well as the roads to be constructed to unconnected Habitations. However, it will not consist of all the existing roads since the objective is to establish ‘basic access’ i.e., one all-weather road connectivity to each Habitation.
4. As explained above the Core Network has to ensure basic access (single connectivity) for each Habitation. This has to be done in a cost-effective way by making best use of the existing road communication facilities. For Habitations with small populations in hilly areas or in difficult terrain conditions, accessibility could be provided by pathways and foot bridges and other low-cost interventions.
Why Core Network?
5. The Core Network has the following advantages.
II STEPS INVOLVED IN ESTABLISHING THE CORE NETWORK
6. The following four major steps are involved in establishing the Core Network
These steps are explained below:
A. PREPARATION OF BLOCK MAPS
7. The preparation of the Block Maps, using topographical Maps at 1:50, 000 scale, has already been explained in the Manual for preparation of the District Rural Roads Plan. Please ensure that the Block Maps show the following:
B. IDENTIFICATION OF MARKET CENTRES (EXISTING AND FUTURE)
8. Before identifying the Core Network, one needs to identify all the Market Centres in the Block. This is because an analysis of the transport patterns in the rural areas reveals that most of the travel is to the Market centres. The Market Centres are defined as the bigger Centres of activities for marketing, health, and education. These are generally Habitations having a large population and / or located on bigger roads or at the confluence of roads leading from a number of Habitations. They have a higher degree of commercial activity and would be places which have higher Health / Education facilities. Please identify the Market Centres using the data available from published Census records/information available from Marketing Board/local enquiries. The villagers should be able to go to the Market centre and come back within one day. The maximum distance between a village and a Market centre would normally not be more than 15-20 km. In some areas, the Market Centres may not be fully developed. In such cases the big villages having potential for developing into suitable Market Centres may be identified. Mark all the Marketing Centres on the Block Map.
C. IDENTIFICATION OF THE CORE NETWORK
9. There are two types of habitations in the Block Map – those which are connected (having all-weather roads) and those which are not connected. In the case of connected Habitations, it is possible that there are more than one road connection. In such a case, please select one road using the Road index, explained in the Manual for Preparation of the District Rural Roads Plan. If, for any reason, an alternative road is the preferred choice of the local people, you may choose that road. (In this connection, please refer to para 3.25 of the Manual). But, in any case, only one road should be selected for the Core Network, as the intention is to provide Basic access. In case of unconnected habitations, please identify a suitable road connection, using the Road Index where there is multiple choice.
10. You will thus have a Core Network Plan for the entire Block. Please check once again that all the Habitations are connected to the nearby Market Centres, either directly or through other connected Habitations or through other all-weather roads. (It is not necessary that each Habitation is directly connected to the Market centre. This is neither feasible nor necessary).
11. Going by the definition of an all-weather road given in the Manual (Para 1.9), it is not necessary to provide a road to a Habitation that is within 500 metres of a connected habitation or an all-weather road. All such habitations may be treated as falling on the concerned road.
12. Identification of the Core Network should be done through carefully examining the suggestions/proposals received from elected representatives, Panchayats, and local population. These can provide very useful information about the missing bridges, missing links, and other priority demands of the local community. The Engineers should keep in mind the existing road Network, location of major Market Centres, topographical features, and local travel pattern. While deciding the Core Network best use of the existing road facilities should be aimed at. Once the Core Network is identified there will be a continuous route established between each habitation and a Market centre.
13. Having established the Core Network, you will find that some roads connect only one Habitation or two, while others connect more Habitations. You will also find that such roads lead inevitably to bigger roads, which in turn lead to even bigger roads. This is just like small rivulets leading into a stream and the streams in turn leading into a river. For purpose of convenience, we will call the small roads as Link Routes and the bigger roads as Through Routes.
14. Through routes are the one which collect traffic from several link roads or a long chain of villages and lead it Marketing centres either directly or through the higher categories roads i.e the District Roads or the State or National Highway. (Please note that it is possible to have Link Routes also directly leading to such higher roads).
15. The through routes can be identified as roads opening-up a large rural area, interconnecting two Market Centres/towns, linking two major roads, inter-connecting a long chain of villages. The Through Routes will generally be long roads say more than 10 km in length or so and serving a relatively higher population (>5000). The Through Routes should be identified through an in-depth study of base Maps, existing road Network, local travel pattern, location of major bridges and topographical features.
16. Link Routes are the roads connecting a single Habitation or a group of Habitations to Through Routes or District Roads leading to Market Centres. Link routes generally have dead ends terminating on a Habitation.
17. It is possible that some of the Though Routes (sometimes even Link Routes) may cut across Block boundaries. While integrating the Block Plans into the District Rural Roads Plan, it should be ensured that the continuity is maintained.
D. NUMBERING OF CORE NETWORK ROADS AND TABULATION OF DATA
18. Once the Core Network is identified each road should be numbered in the manner prescribed manual for preparation of District Rural Roads Master Plan. To distinguish Through Routes, the number should be prefixed with T and Link Routes should be prefixed with L. For purpose of numbering, it is always better to start with the North-East corner of the Block and come clock-wise giving progressively higher number.
19. At the end of this exercise, the details of all these roads should be listed in the Proforma - CN-I. The Block-wise information of the Core Network should then be given in the Proforma – CN-II. Both these proformae may be computerised immediately.
MISCELLANEOUS
20. In some areas, even the Network of higher roads like Major District Roads (MDR) and State Highways (SH) may not be fully developed. Many of the major bridges may be found missing. The investment in Rural Roads will not show expected results unless these major roads and bridges are constructed. The requirements of such roads and bridges may be identified even though these are not to be included under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Such information should be provided to PWD to incorporate these in their plans.