History
The Silk Road in the 1st century.
The first evidence of road development in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to approximately 4000 BC from the ancient cities of Harrapa and Mohenjodaro of the Indus Valley Civilization. Around the 1st Century AD, the ancient Silk Road came into being, which passed through northern India and China.
Evolution of the Indian road network - The main map shows routes that have existed since Mughal times, Inset A shows the major cultural currents of the prehistoric period, B shows pre-Mauryan Indian routes, C shows the Mauryan network, D shows the trade routes at the beginning of the Christian era, and E shows the Indian "Z".
Ruling emperors and monarchs of ancient India constructed numerous brick roads in the cities. One of the most famous highways of medieval India is the Grand Trunk Road. The Grand Trunk Road began in Sonargaon near Dhaka in Bangladesh and ended at Peshawar in modern-day Pakistan. In India, it linked several important cities from Kolkata in the east to Amritsar in the west, while passing through the cities of Patna, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Delhi, Panipat, Pipli, Ambala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar. During the colonial period in the 19th century, the British upgraded the existing highway network and built roads in many treacherous areas such as the Western Ghats.
Statistics
Almost 80% of passenger traffic and about 65% of freight movement is handled by this vast network.
In general, roads in India are primarily bitumen-based macadamized roads. However, a few of the National Highways have concrete roads too. In some locations, such as in Kanpur, British-built concrete roads are still in use. Concrete roads were less popular prior to 1990s because of low availability of cement then. However, with large supplies of cement in the country and the virtues of concrete roads, they are once again gaining popularity. Concrete roads are weather-proof and require lower maintenance compared to bituminous roads. Because bitumen is obtained mostly from imported crude oil, and due to other factors, concrete-based roads will prove to be more cost-effective in future. Apart from these, one also comes across unpaved dirt roads in the countryside, which is fast getting converted to paved roads.
Indian Road Network
Class Length (km)
National Highways/Expressways 66,754
State Highways 128,000
Major district roads 470,000
Rural & other roads 2,650,000
Total (approx) 3,314,754
Paved Roads
Class Percent (%)
Paved Roads (% of 2 lane roads) 34
Paved Roads (% of 4 lane roads) 1
Paved Roads (% of total road network) 47.3
The National and State Highways form the economic backbone of the country. These have helped development along the route, and many towns have sprung up along major highways. State Highways and Major District Roads constitute the secondary system of road infrastructure of India.
By acting as the link between the rural and urban areas, the State Highways and Major District Roads contribute significantly to the development of the rural economy and industrial growth of the country. It is estimated that the secondary system carries about 40 per cent of the total road traffic and comprises about 20% of the total road length.
State-wise Road Network
State/UT National Highways (km) State Highways (km) Major District Roads (km) Other District & Link Roads (km) Total surfaced length (km) as on March 31, 2002 Total length (km) as on March 31, 2002
Andaman & Nicobar 300 1,180 1,180
Andhra Pradesh 4,472 1,19,857 1,96,172
Arunachal Pradesh 392 5,689 18,365
Assam 2,836 12,882 89,486
Bihar 3,642 32,858 76,065
Chandigarh 24 2,045 2,045
Chhattisgarh 2,184 24,476 35,372
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 580 580
Daman & Diu 324 414
Delhi 72 23,274 28,508
Goa 269 6,830 9,672
Gujarat 3,245 1,24,295 1,37,617
Haryana 1,512 26,311 28,203
Himachal Pradesh 1,208 2,160 2,240 16,754 29,617
Jammu & Kashmir 1,245 9,943 23,429
Jharkhand 1,805 2,840 11,486
Karnataka 3,843 1,04,241 1,52,599
Kerala 1,457 4,006 23,702 50,164 1,50,851
Lakshadweep 150 150
Madhya Pradesh 4,670 78,191 1,60,968
Maharashtra 4,176 33,705 2,09,559 2,67,452
Manipur 959 3,863 11,434
Meghalaya 810 6,560 9,565
Mizoram 927 2,877 5,075
Nagaland 494 6,451 21,021
Orissa 3,704 52,245 2,37,034
Puducherry 53 2,115 2,571
Punjab 1,557 2,166 1,799 34,997 52,747 61,530
Rajasthan 5,585 82,456 1,32,482
Sikkim 62 1,546 2,019
Tamil Nadu 4,462 7,163 7,362 40,963 1,54,958 1,91,947
Tripura 400 4,393 16,296
Uttarakhand 1,991 10,730 33,547
Uttar Pradesh 5,874 1,66,659 2,48,481
West Bengal 2,524 49,517 92,023
Total 66,754
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), established in 1948, is the premier national laboratory engaged in carrying out research and development projects on design, construction and maintenance of roads and runways, traffic and transportation planning of mega and medium cities, management of roads in different terrains, improvement of marginal materials, utilization of industrial waste in road construction, landslide control, ground improvements environmental pollution, road traffic safety and analysis & design, wind, fatigue, corrosion studies, performance monitoring/evaluation, service life assessment and rehabilitation of highway & railway bridges.
Roads
National Highways
Main article: National Highway (India)
India National Highways Map
These are main highways running through the length and breadth of the country connecting major ports, state capitals, large industrial and tourist centres, etc. National Highways in India are designated as NH followed by the highway number.
The traffic on National Highways has been growing due to the recent economic growth in India and the Government of India is taking steps to improve management techniques to provide hindrance-free traffic movement by way of widening roads, grade separation, construction of bypasses, bridges, rail-road crossings, and utilizing the latest technologies.
Even though the National Highways represent only 2% of the total network length, they handle about 40% of the total road traffic. The National Highways are further classified based on the width of carriageway of the Highway. Generally, in case of a single lane, the lane width is of 3.75 meters, while in case of multi-lane National Highways, each of the lanes have a width of 3.5 meters. As of February 2008, out of the total length, 14% have four or more lanes and about 59% have 2-lanes or are double-laned, while the rest (27%) of the National Highway network has single or intermediate lane.
Expressways
Mumbai Pune Expressway
Main article: National Expressway (India)
The Expressways of India make up approximately 200 km (120 mi), of the Indian National Highway System. Indian Expressways are access controlled, feature a divider in the center and have at least six-lanes along with a shoulder on either side. Usually no two-wheelers, three-wheelers or tractor vehicles are allowed on these roads. Speeds of 120 km/h (75 mph) can be maintained on these roads due to separate merging lanes and the lack of speed breakers so as to ensure smooth travel. Most of the existing expressways in India are toll roads.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was constituted by the Indian Parliament in 1988. It is the authority responsible for the development, maintenance and management of National Highways entrusted to it. The Authority was made operational in February 1995 and is currently undertaking the developmental activities under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) in phases. All the phases combined together envisage improvement of more than 25,000 km of arterial routes of National Highway Network to international standards. In addition to implementation of NHDP, the NHAI is also responsible for implementing other projects on National Highways, primarily road connectivity to major ports in India.
National Highway classification
Lanes Length (km) Percentage
Single Lane / Intermediate lane 18,350 27%
Double lane 39,079 59%
Four Lane/Six lane/Eight Lane 9,325 14%
Total 66,754 100%
State Highways
State Highway (India)
The State Highways provide linkages with the National Highways, district headquarters, important towns, tourist centres and minor ports and carry the traffic along major centers within the state. These arterial routes provides connectivity to important towns and cities within the state with National Highways or State Highways of the neighboring states. Their total length is about 137,711 km.
The Ministry of State for Surface Transport in India administers the national highway system, and state highways and other state roads are maintained by state public works departments. The central and state governments share responsibilities for road building and maintaining Indian roads.
District roads
This section requires expansion.
These are important roads within a district connecting areas of production with markets and connecting these with each other or with the State Highways & National Highways. It also connects Taluka headquarters and rural areas to District headquarters within the state.
Major District Roads
State/UT Single lane (km) Intermediate lane (km) Double lane (km) Multilane (km) Total (km)
Tamil Nadu 4,797 757 1,761 47 7,362
Rural & other roads
The rural roads in India forms a substantial portion of the vast Indian road network. Most of the rural roards were initially sand-roads. Because the agricultural produce and the finished products of small-scale industries in rural areas are to be moved from the producing centres to the marketing centers, the road connectivity is essential for rural population.
For the development of these rural roads, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) (or "Prime Minister Rural Roads Scheme"), was launched in December 2000 by the Government of India to provide connectivity to unconnected rural habitations as part of a poverty eradication measure. For its implementation, the Government of India is setting uniform technical and management standards and facilitating policy development and planning at State level in order to ensure sustainable management of the rural roads network. The scheme is to be implemented in phases wherein the number of roads under each phase would be governed by the population of habitations (hamlets). For example, the initial phase would attempt to cover all in-habitations with a population of 1000.
It is expected that about 3,75,000 km of new road construction and 3,72,000 km of upgradation/renewal would be undertaken as part of the scheme. The construction cost is fully borne by the Government of India as a Centrally sponsored Scheme, while the State Governments are responsible for providing maintenance funds. As of May 24, 2007, more than 122,000 km of roads have been completed under PMGSY and work is in progress in projects covering another 1,00,000 km.
Issues
The main roads in India are under huge pressure and in great need of modernization in order to handle the increased requirements of the Indian economy. In addition to maintenance, the expansion of the network and widening of existing roads is becoming increasingly important. This would then enable the roads to handle increased traffic, and also allow for a corresponding increase in the average movement speed on India's roads. Presently, lane capacity is low and only about 16% of India's roads are four lanes or above. In addition, approximately a quarter of all India's highways are congested, in some cases reducing truck and bus speeds to 30-40 km/h (19-25 mph). Road maintenance remains under-funded, and some 40 percent of villages in India lack access to all-weather roads.
Due to decades of bureaucratic and procedural difficulties, the road network has suffered long delays. Recently however, political leaders in India are making efforts to prioritize the modernization and expansion of the road network. However, there are still other environmental, logistical, and local issues contributing to delay in development of the road infrastructure. For instance, although the government itself owns a wide corridor around the center of roads called the Right of Way (ROW), over many years, poor and landless people have built houses and other property along the roadside. Farmers whose fields adjoined the road had their crops encroach up to the side of the road. Further, other resources are located along roadsides, whether they be trees, pathways to water resources, streams that were used for their water, etc. Trucking goods from Gurgaon to the port in Mumbai can take up to 10 days. Taxes and bribes are common between state borders; Transparency International estimates that truckers pay annually US$5 billion in bribes. Although India has only 1% of the world's vehicles, India has 8% of the world's vehicle fatalities or 95,000 people, second only to China.
India's cities are extremely congested — the average bus speed is 6–10 km/h in many large cities. Because of the congestion in Indian roads the fuel efficiency of the vehicles is also very low. This increases the overall fuel consumption of the country besides creating huge pollution since the engines run very inefficiently at such low speeds.
(source:wikipedia)
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