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India’s road network is considered the second largest network worldwide. It consists of expressways, freeways, state highways and national highways. The road network connects villages, towns, ports, cities and capitals. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has constructed a massive network known as national highways among these trunk roads. The NHAI and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) are owned by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India.
These nodal agencies promote and survey all the national highways of India. Furthermore, they are responsible for designing and constructing National Highways and Strategic Roads. Some of the roads in the country share international boundaries with neighbouring countries. Thus, the national highway helps in the cross border trading of goods and safeguards India’s international borders.
Meaning of National Highway
The two nodal agencies made an effort to expand the network of roads. When connecting all the major cities and ports of states of the country, these roads are referred to as national highways. These agencies are NHAI, NHIDCL and PWD (Public Works Department). They maintain the highways and collect tolls for them. These roads are managed and developed by the government of India under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The national highway in the hilly areas such as Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Uttarakhand requires more maintenance. Therefore, the related infrastructure such as bus ports and logistics hubs are also built by NHIDCL.
Indian national highways cover only 2% of the total road network. However, they carry approximately 40% of the total traffic.
India’s longest national highway NH 44 was previously known as NH 7. It connects the north and south park of India, whereas, the shortest Indian national highway is NH 966 B, also known as NH 47A and connects the small islands of Kochi in Kerala.
Examples of some national highways are as follows:
- NH 27 connects Porbandar in Gujarat to Silchar in Assam.
- NH 34 connects Gangotri Dham in Uttarakhand to Lakhnadon in Madhya Pradesh.
- NH -1 connects Delhi to Amritsar (via Ambala and Jalandhar).
- NH-7 connects Varanasi to Kanyakumari (via Nagpur, Bangalore and Madurai).
- NH-24 connects Delhi to Lucknow.
How many national highways are there in India?
According to the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways, the total number of national highways constructed by NHAI AND NHIDCL is about 599. The total length of the Indian national highway is 132,500 kms which is about 2% of the total road length in the country. India’s longest national highway, NH 44, is about 3508 kms in length running from Srinagar to Kanyakumari.
On April 28, a numbering system was initiated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to give specific names to the highways. According to the new numbering system, all the major highways have single or double digits in numbers. The north-south highways have even digits while east-west highways have odd numbers. Moreover, the secondary branches of these networks are numbered with three digits.
History of National Highway
Earlier, in 1956, the National Highways Act was passed. But the backbone of the Indian road network was set up under the Parliament Act in 1988. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) was launched to connect the four major cities of India. Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai paved their ways into four lane national highways. After 2014, this network of roads was owned by the Government of India for the management and development purposes. Later, in 2010, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways gave a new numbering system based on the geographical location of the roads. This system was adopted for the consistency in the new highways constructed later in the past few years. The even numbers to the roads were given from NH2 and odd numbers from NH1.
Features of National Highways
The characteristics of the national highways include its length, road traffic, lanes, tolls, and material; however, only a few are built with high-quality concrete material, whereas others are built with charcoal.
These roads consist of two, four or even more than six lanes to provide high speed traffic. There are multiple roads on a national highway, which later merge with other highways at a place called Bypass. The construction of bypasses have a major importance of providing a passage for highway traffic to enter into the local cities and towns. The national highway has eastern and western freeways situated in Mumbai. It is built to reduce the traffic congestion in the city.
Conclusion
Development of these national highways across the country is essential. It is because the road network provides easy trading and other services on both national as well as international level. Therefore, the Government of India should take some measures to provide facilities and amenities to Indians using these national highways. For a smooth flow of traffic, the government should use extra funding. An important point to note here is that a proper strategy is needed to upgrade all the roads across the country.
