Bhubaneswar: The state transport department has flagged 26 accident-prone stretches along NH-16 in Khurda district and urged the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to implement urgent corrective measures to enhance road safety and prevent accidents.Transport department secretary N B S Rajput, in a letter to NHAI’s regional officer Birendra Singh on Wednesday, pointed out the factors behind frequent accidents on NH-16 in the district. A comprehensive road safety audit revealed alarming trends, with the Khurda administration earlier drawing NHAI’s attention to the rise in grievous and fatal accidents at these locations.According to sources in the transport department, the audit highlighted inadequate signage and road markings, poor lighting at junctions, unsafe median openings, unauthorized access points, defective service roads, improper merging and diverging lanes, lack of pedestrian infrastructure such as foot overbridges and guardrails, and unchecked high-speed traffic without calming measures.“The severity of accidents included head-on collisions, rear-end crashes, pedestrian knockdowns, and two-wheeler fatalities,” read a joint letter from the Khurda collector, superintendent of police, and regional transport officer to the NHAI on March 19, stressing that the growing number of grievous injuries and fatalities posed serious law-and-order and public safety concerns.According to the transport department, Khurda ranked sixth in the state for road fatalities, recording 1,292 accidents and 375 deaths in 2025. Rajput described NH-16 as a highly vulnerable corridor due to engineering flaws and urged NHAI to implement both short- and long-term measures, including crash barriers, rumble strips, chevron signage, channelization islands, and closure of unauthorized median openings. He sought an action taken report by April 30.The transport department noted that the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety is closely monitoring the state’s road safety scenario, while the chief secretary regularly reviews progress. Rajput is expected to hold a compliance review meeting in early May 2026 before the matter is placed in the chief secretary’s next review session. “We have taken the suggestions seriously. Work has already begun to address the identified issues,” an NHAI official said.
