Runways on Roads: Modi’s Plan to Connect India’s Remote Villages
- Transport minister floats proposal to use roads as airstrips
- Border areas with sparse traffic ideal, official says
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India is proposing to convert some of its remote rural roads into runways, both for defense and commercial planes, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to connect the nation’s 1.3 billion people.
“We can close road traffic when a plane lands and open once the plane has taken off,” Nitin Gadkari, the transport minister in Modi’s cabinet, told reporters in Mumbai on Friday. “Airport investment costs would come down as the road will also be used as an airstrip.”