Indian Road Network

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India has a huge network of 3.3 million kilometers of roadways (2.1 million miles), making it one of the largest road network in the world. This huge network, which includes both paved and unpaved roads, are categorized as expressways or freeways, National Highways, State Highways, major district roads, and rural & other roads. The roads generally are dual carriageways in expressways and highways.

The road infrastructure is main catalyst for the development of important key sectors of economy like Agriculture, Industry, Mining, Energy, Forestry and Dairy Development. These sectors depend heavily on the development and maintenance of the road network and efficient transportation system.

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[edit] Statistics

Almost 80% of passenger traffic and about 65% of freight movement is handled by the 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 gaining popularity. Concrete roads are weather-proof and require lower maintenance compared to bituminious 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)
Expressways 1,500
National Highways 66,590
State Highways 127,500
Major district roads 470,000
Rural & other roads 2,650,000
Total (approx) 3,340,000

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 4,472 119,857 196,172
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 3,245 124,295 137,617
Haryana 1,512 26,311 28,203
Himachal Pradesh 1,234 2,160 2,240 16,754 29,617
Jammu & Kashmir 1,245 9,943 23,429
Jharkhand 1,805 2,840 11,486
Karnataka 3,843 104,241 152,599
Kerala 1,524 4,006 23,702 50,164 150,851
Lakshadweep 150 150
Madhya Pradesh 4,670 78,191 160,968
Maharashtra 4,176 33,705 209,559 267,452
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 52,245 237,034
Pondicherry 53 2,115 2,571
Punjab 1,557 2,166 1,799 34,997 52,747 61,530
Rajasthan 5,585 82,456 132,482
Sikkim 62 1,546 2,019
Tamil Nadu 4,462 7,163 7,362 40,963 125,887 166,061
Tripura 400 4,393 16,296
Uttaranchal 1,991 10,730 33,547
Uttar Pradesh 5,874 166,659 248,481
West Bengal 2,377 49,517 92,023
Total 66,590

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.

[edit] Expressways

The concept of expressways or freeways is also slowly catching up in the country. The most notable of them is the Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting the financial capital of India, Mumbai to the neighboring IT-propelled city of Pune. This is also one of the few concrete roads in the country. In the country, an expressway typically would have six-lane highway divided in the center by a wide divider. An extra lane is provided on each side as a hard shoulder. These have fencing to prevent human/cattle trespassing across the expressway. Usually no two-wheelers, three-wheelers or tractor vehicles are allowed. Further, there is adequate number of petrol pumps and workshops along the stretch. Speeds along these can be generally maintained above 120 km/h and these do not have undue merging of traffic or speed-breakers to ensure smooth travel. Currently, most of the expressways are toll roads, which attract a toll tax for using them. The toll tax booths or toll plazas are usually located on the state borders.

[edit] National Highways

India National Highways Map
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.

While the traffic on National Highways has been growing due to acceleration of industrialisation in the Country, the Government of India is taking steps to utilize latest technologies and improved management techniques to provide hindrance-free traffic movement by way of widening roads, grade separation, construction of bypasses, bridges, rail-road crossings, etc.

Even though the National Highways represent only 2% of the total network length, they handle about 40% of the total road traffic. As of February 2007, out of the total length, 10% have four or more lanes and about 55% have 2-lanes or are double-laned, while the rest have single or intermediate lane.

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 development activities under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) in phases. These phases envisage improving 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.

[edit] State Highways

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The State Highways provide linkages with the National Highways, district headquarters, important towns, tourist centres and minor ports and carry the traffic along major centres within the state. These arterial routes provides connectivity to important towns and cities within the state with National Highways or State Highways of the neighbouring states. Their total length is about 137,711 km.

State Highways
State/UT Single lane (km) Intermediate lane (km) Double lane (km) Multilane (km) Total (km)
Tamil Nadu 2,050 936 3,980 197 7,163

[edit] District roads

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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

[edit] 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 centres, 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 inhabitations with a population of 1000.

It is expected that about 375,000 km of new road construction and 372,000 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 100,000 km.

[edit] 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. Besides just fixing and paving the roads, widening & straightening of roads and expanding the network is becoming increasingly necessary. This is because the roads can then handle increased traffic, both in terms of goods and public movement together with an increase in the speed of movement.

In general, due to decades of bureaucratic procedural difficulties, the road network has suffered long delays. The political leaders in India have now started examining the situation and taking action. 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.

These squatters whose property lies within the ROW would not only be greatly affected by road widening, but also those who use the resources next to the road might be adversely affected. It is also difficult to remove these encroachers and further, removal of trees is increasingly becoming a sensitive issue.

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