Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari has suggested that the national standards for design, construction, maintenance and operation of roads, bridges and flyovers should align with the global standards to bring down the cost of construction while maintaining high standards of quality. He was speaking at the inaugural session of a workshop cum exhibition on adoption of innovative technologies and materials for road construction in India organized by Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE) and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in association with the World Bank at Noida near Delhi today.