Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan today said, the extent of national highways in India would be doubled in the next five years.<br/><br/>Launching the three-day "Making Of Developed India (MODI) Fest" in Chennai, he said the share of national highways in India's road infrastructure is just 2 percent at present, though 40 percent of the total road travel is made using them.<br/><br/>The Minister expressed concerns that road accidents claim about 1.5 lakh lives in India every year, far exceeding the number of war victims. He also pointed out that Tamil Nadu tops in number of road accidents.<br/><br/>Mr.Radhakrishnan assured that road accident deaths would be reduced by half within a year by way of improved road safety measures.