PATNA, April 9 -- The state government's flagship plan to bring the state capital within five hours reach from any part of Bihar is running into a familiar bottleneck - unmanned and manned railway level crossings. Daily traffic snarls at 141 such crossings have become the single biggest hurdle to the state's "mission 5 hour" dream. Road construction department minister Dilip Jaiswal has recently written to Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, pressing for early approval to build road over bridges (ROBs) at all these spots on a priority basis in the current financial year. Talking to HT on Wednesday over the phone from West Bengal, Jaiswal said the crossings as the "most serious obstacle" standing between the government's fast-track road plan and its actual implementation. He further pointed out that the ROBs are strategically planned on National Highways (NH), State Highways (SH) and the main district roads (MDR) that link Bihar's 38 district headquarters. Once built, they will not only slash travel time but also cut fuel consumption substantially, the minister argued. Officials of the department said vehicles are forced to stay idle for 15 to 20 minutes at each crossing, while some stretches require 2-3 km detours. Removing these choke points, they claim, will push up average speeds on major highways and turn the '5-hour' promise into reality - possibly even trimming the journey time further to four hours in several corridors. The state government is banking heavily on the project....