• The Council is the Governing Body to manage affairs of IRC. The Council, headed by the President, comprises Heads of Departments / Secretaries / Engineers-in-Chief / Chief Engineers from Central and State Government Departments as its members (like MoRTH, NHAI, NHIDCL, NRIDA, IAHE, BRO, CPWD, PWDs, NEC MES, CRRI). Some seats in the Council are earmarked for Business/Industry connected with roads & road transport besides representative of Municipalities, Local Bodies and Members elected by the General Body.​

• ​The Council is supported by the Executive Committee in discharge of routine activities of IRC, under delegated powers, on behalf of the Council. The Executive Committee of IRC comprises the President, Immediate Past-President, four Vice-Presidents, Treasurer (DG(RD)&SS, MoRTH) and Secretary General.

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• To manages day-to-day functions including publication of magazines viz, ‘Indian Highways (monthly)’, ‘IRC Journals (Quarterly)’ Highway Research Journals (Half-yearly) and Highway Research Records (General Report on Road Research Work done in India)’, State-of-the-Art Reports, besides, publications of Manuals, Codes, Specifications etc., a Secretariat of IRC has been established. The IRC secretariat is headed by the Secretary General. The Secretary General is assisted by the Under Secretary (Admn.) in administrative matters and by the Deputy Director (Tech.) in technical matters. In a way, functioning of IRC is broadly similar to the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which lays down standards pertaining to roads and bridges in the USA.

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• There are at present 26 Technical Committees examining various technical issues and making recommendations on issues relating to Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, Traffic, Transport Planning, Road Safety, Materials, Environment, Disaster Management, Human Resource & Technology Development, ITS, Multimodal, etc. besides the three Apex Committees, namely, Highways Specifications & Standards Committee, Bridges Specifications & Standards Committee and General Specifications & Standards Committee. In addition, there are two Committees i.e. “Identification, Monitoring and Research Applications (IMRA)”, “Committee for Accreditation of New Materials and Techniques.