Roadways

Introduction 

Movement of goods and services can be done through three important domains of the earth that is, land, water and air. India has one of the most extensive road networks on the planet. In India, roadways have preceded railways. In India,  the road network is among the most widespread in the world. The length of all the roads in India adds up to around 2.3 million kilometers. Roadways are the most commonly used means of transport in our country, especially for short distances. They can be of different types. The plains have a dense network of roads but the roads have also been built on terrains like deserts, forest and even high mountains.

Importance of Road transport vis-à-vis Rail transport

• Low Construction cost: The Construction cost of roads is much lower than that of railway lines.

• Ease of Movement:

• Roads can navigate similarly, more taken apart and undulating geology
• Roads can arrange higher angles of inclines and can cross mountains like the Himalayas
• Economical for brief distance: Road transport is affordable for many people and generally a more modest measure of merchandise over short distances
• Low Handling Cost: It provides door-to-door service. Thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower
• Feeder to different methods of Transport: Road transport gives a connection between all the other means of transport
• Roads can provide connectivity in all relief areas which is practically not possible for railways
• Roadways also provide links between railway stations, air and seaports, which is not possible for railways

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Classification of Roads according to their Capacity

In India, roads are ordered in the accompanying six classes.

Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways:

• The public authority dispatched a significant road improvement project connecting India’s top four metropolitan cities Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai and Delhi by six-path Super Highways
• It includes:nThe North-South corridors linking Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu), and East-West Corridor connecting Silchar (Assam) and Porbander (Gujarat)

Major Objective: To reduce the time and distance between the megacities of India. 

• Executing Agency: These Highway projects are being implemented by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

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National Highways

• It links extreme parts of India and is the primary road system
• The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) laid and kept up with these
• Various significant National Highways run in North-South and East-West headings
• The chronicled Sher-Shah Suri Marg is called National Highway No.1 between  Delhi and Amritsar
• Manali-Leh highway in the Himalayan mountains is one of the highest roadways in the world

State Highways 

• These are roads connecting a state capital with various area base camps
• The State Public Works Department (PWD) assembled and stayed aware of these roads in State and Union Territories

District Roads

• These roads associate the central area command with different spots of the region
• The Zila Parishad keeps up with these streets

Other Roads

• These incorporate country streets, which connect rural regions with towns
• These streets got extraordinary force under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana
• Under this plan, extraordinary arrangements are made, so every town in the nation is connected to a significant city by the entire motorable street season

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Border Roads

• The Border Roads Organization (Government of India undertaking) builds and keeps up with roadways in the lining spaces of India
• This association was set up in 1960 to improve the streets of key significance in the Northern and North-Eastern line regions
• These streets have further developed availability in spaces of troublesome territory and have helped in the monetary improvement of these spaces

Challenges faced by the Indian roadways

• The national highways including the other Roadways of India are not enough to accommodate the large volume of road traffic which ultimately leads to frequent traffic jams
• Approximately 50% of the roads of India are unmetalled they go under bad condition during the monsoon season
• Many roads and bridges in Indian cities are quite narrow which does not allow more vehicles to pass through at a time

Conclusion 

Roadways are an important means of transport in India. They are an important form of infrastructure for any type of movement that can take a person from one place to another. Roadways are the most commonly used means of transport in our country, especially for short distances. Roadways are considered as the most important mode of transport as it has various benefits over other means of transport. Roadways can be constructed at a much lower cost than that of railway lines. Road Transport is also affordable for many people and generally a more modest measure of merchandise over short distances.  It provides door-to-door service. Thus, the cost of loading and unloading is much lower. Road transport gives a connection between all the other means of transport. Roads can provide connectivity in all relief areas which is practically not possible for railways. Roadways also provide links between railway stations, air and seaports, which is not possible for railways. Roadways can be classified into six classes, they are-Golden Quadrilateral superhighway, national highways, state highways, district roads, other roads and border roads.