NEW DELHI: In a major relief for motorists, the government has reduced toll rates by up to 50 per cent on certain sections of National Highways that include structures like tunnels, bridges, flyovers, and elevated roads.

The move is aimed at lowering travel costs and making road journeys more affordable for the public.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has amended the National Highways Fee Rules, 2008, and notified a new formula for calculating toll charges.

According to the new rule, toll will now be calculated in a way that significantly reduces the fee on highway sections that consist mainly of such costly infrastructure.

As per the notification, if a section of the National Highway includes structures like flyovers or tunnels, toll will be calculated based on the lesser of two values: Either ten times the length of the structures or five times the total length of the highway section.

To explain this with an example, the ministry said that if a 40-kilometre stretch of a highway is entirely made up of structures like bridges or flyovers, then toll will be calculated on the lower of the two options -- either 10 times the structure length (400 km) or 5 times the total length (200 km).

In this case, toll will be charged based on 200 km, effectively reducing the rate by half.

Earlier, users had to pay ten times the regular toll rate for every kilometre of such structures, as these types of infrastructure are more expensive to build and maintain.

Meanwhile, in another step towards hassle-free highway travel, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced a new FASTag-based annual pass for private vehicles last month.

The pass, priced at Rs 3,000, will be available from August 15 this year.

Designed specifically for non-commercial private vehicles such as cars, jeeps, and vans, the annual pass will remain valid for one year from the date of activation or up to 200 trips -- whichever comes first.