New Delhi, Oct. 21 -- India plans to develop ring roads and highway bypasses around cities and towns as access-controlled corridors with distance-based tolling, aiming to keep them dedicated to through traffic and prevent them from becoming congested urban roads as settlements expand and local traffic increases, according to the road transport ministry's new urban decongestion policy.

The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has finalized a revised decongestion policy mandating that national highway projects undertaken for urban decongestion be developed as fully access-controlled corridors with a minimum four-lane configuration and closed tolling facilities. The aim is to preserve highway speeds of 100-120 kmph, separate long...