10/8/2017 National Highway (India) - Wikipedia

National Highway (India)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The national highways network of India is a network of

highways that is managed and maintained by agencies of the
Government of India. These highways measured over
165,000 km (103,000 mi) as of December 2016, including over
1,000 km (620 mi) of limited-access expressways
(motorways). Out of 1,65,000 km of national highways 26,200
plus km are at least 4 laned with the remaining 50,000 km 2
laned.[1][2] Indian government led by PM Modi has declared to
double the highway length from 96,000 to 2,00,000 km in its
5-year term and has already increased the length from 96,000
to 1,65,000.[3]

As of Jun 2017, 23 km per day has been achieved which is

unprecedented in Indian History.[4]

In India, National Highways are at-grade roads whereas

Express Highways, commonly known as Expressways, are
controlled-access highways, mostly 6-lane or above, where
entrance and exit is controlled by the use of slip roads (ramps) Renumbered National Highways map of India
that are incorporated into the design of the highway. The at- (Schematic)
grade national highways do not have shoulder lanes. The speed
on national highway is mostly unregulated and is mostly
slowed by heavy trucks in middle lanes. The highways are also used by
pedestrians and cyclists creating dangerous situations.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the nodal agency

responsible for building, upgrading and maintaining most of the national
highways network. It operates under the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) is a
major effort to expand and upgrade the network of highways. NHAI often
uses a public-private partnership model for highway development,
maintenance and toll-collection. A dual carriageway section of National
Highway 8 connecting Delhi to
While national highways constitute 1.8% of Indian roads, they carry 40% Gurgaon
of the traffic.[5] The majority of existing national highways are two-lane
roads (one lane in each direction), though much of this is being expanded
to four-lanes, and some to six or more lanes. Some sections of the network
are toll roads. Over 30,000 km (19,000 mi) of new highways are planned or
under construction as part of the NHDP, as of 2011. This includes over
2,600 km (1,600 mi) of expressways under construction.

Contents
1 Current system
Durgapur Expressway near Kolkata
2 Recent developments
3 Statewise

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4 Gallery
5 References and notes

Current system
India has 100,087 km (62,191 mi) of national highways (NH) connecting
all the major cities and state capitals as of June 2016. National highways
comprise 1.7% of India's total road network, but carry about 40% of road
traffic.[6] Most of them have two lanes. About 26,000 km (16,000 mi) have APCRDA Greenway - Vijayawada
been widened to four lanes with two lanes in each direction as of May Airport to Vijayawada
2016. Only a few national highways are built with cement concrete. As of
2010, 19,064 km (11,846 mi) of national highways were still single-laned
roads. The government is working to ensure that by December 2014 the
entire national highway network consists of roads with two or more
lanes.[7]

India has the distinction of having the world's second highest-altitude

motor highway Leh-Manali Highway, connecting Shimla to Leh in
Ladakh, Kashmir.

National highways form the economic backbone of the country and have
often facilitated development along their routes, and many new towns have The 8-lane national highway 21 road
sprung up along major highways. Highways also have large numbers of passing through Chandigarh
small restaurants and inns (known as dhabas) along their length. They
serve popular local cuisine and serve as truck stops.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India adopted a new systematic numbering of national
highways in April 2010. The new system will indicate the direction of national highways whether it is east-west
(odd numbers) or north-south (even numbers) and also the geographical region where they are located, increasing
from east to west and from north to south.[8]

Recent developments
Under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee India launched a
massive programme of highway upgrades, called the National Highways
Development Project (NHDP), in which the main north-south and east-west
connecting corridors and highways connecting the four metropolitan cities
(Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata) have been fully paved and widened
into four-lane highways. Some of the busier national highway sectors in
India have been converted to four or six lane expressways for example, Vijayawada-Guntur Highway
Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Jaipur, Ahmedabad-Vadodara, Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-
Surat, Bangalore-Mysore, Bangalore-Chennai, Chennai-Tada, Delhi-
Meerut Hyderabad-Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar-Puri and Guntur-Vijayawada. Phase V of the National Highway
Development Project is to convert all 6,000 km (3,700 mi) of the Golden Quadrilateral Highways to 6-lane
highways/expressways by 2012.

The National Highways Act, 1956[9] provides for private investment in the building and maintenance of the
highways. Some existing roads have been reclassified as national highways. Bypasses have recently been
constructed around larger towns and cities to provide uninterrupted passage for highway traffic. The hugely varied

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climatic, demographic, traffic, and sometimes political situation in India results in national highways being single
lane in places with low traffic to six lanes in places with heavy traffic. National highways are being upgraded or
are under construction. Some national highways are long while some are short spurs off other national highways to
provide connectivity to nearby ports or harbours.

The length of national highways in the country was 29,023 km in 1980, which expanded to 76,818 km by the end
of 2012. Over 50% of the total road network or 23,814 was added under the Vajpayee government between 1997
and 2002, the largest construction of national highways during any five-year period since independence.[10] The
UPA government added 18,000 km of highway in its ten-year administration between 2004 and 2014.[11][12]

The longest national highway is NH44,[13] which runs between Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Kanyakumari
in Tamil Nadu, at the southernmost point of the Indian mainland, covering a distance of 2,369 km (1,472 mi). The
shortest national highway is NH966B,[14][15] which spans 6 km (3.7 mi), to the Ernakulam - Kochi Port.

Statewise

NH44 section between Bangalore and

Karnataka - Andhra Pradesh border. It is
part of the North South Corridor.

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National Highways in India, by state and union territories and maintaining agency [16][17]

State
National Highway
SL No State / Union Territory NHAI NHIDCL [18]
PWD Length, Kms

1 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 87 330.7

2 Andhra Pradesh 6285.6
3 Arunachal Pradesh 1035 2537.4
4 Assam 1010 3844.7
5 Bihar 4838.8
6 Chandigarh 15.3
7 Chhattisgarh 3232.4
8 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 31
9 Daman and Diu 22
10 Delhi 78.9
11 Goa 262
12 Gujarat 5017
13 Haryana 2640.6
14 Himachal Pradesh 320 2642.5
15 Jammu & Kashmir 436 2601
16 Jharkhand 2661.2
17 Karnataka 6761.3
18 Kerala 1781.6
19 Lakshadweep 0
20 Madhya Pradesh 7883.6
21 Maharashtra 15437
22 Manipur 1751 1746
23 Meghalaya 823 1204
24 Mizoram 372 1422.5
25 Nagaland 324 1546.7
26 Odisha 4837
27 Puducherry 64
28 Punjab 2769
29 Rajasthan 7906
30 Sikkim 595 463
31 Tamil Nadu 5381.1
32 Tripura 573 3786.4

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State
National Highway
SL No State / Union Territory NHAI NHIDCL [18]
PWD Length, Kms

33 Telangana 853.8
33 Uttarakhand 660 8711
34 Uttar Pradesh 2841.9
35 West Bengal 4 2997.8
India 7990 115435

Gallery

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References and notes

1. "National Highways" (http://www.nhai.org/WHATITIS.asp). New Delhi: NHAI. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
2. "National Highways" (http://www.nhai.org/statewise1.asp). New Delhi: NHAI. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
3. "National Highways road length to be increased from 96,000 km to 2,00,000 km: Nitin Gadkari" (http://ww
w.financialexpress.com/india-news/national-highways-road-length-to-be-increased-from-96000-km-to-2000
00-km-nitin-gadkari/477303/). The Financial Express. 2016-12-17. Retrieved 2017-06-27.
4. "Govt aimed to build 15,000 km of roads in 2016-17 but laid down only 8,200 km" (http://www.hindustanti
mes.com/india-news/government-constructs-22-km-of-roads-per-day-misses-target-of-41-km-by-half/story-n
LLJazVO6TZlzgx7lIu7iO.html). http://www.hindustantimes.com/. 2017-04-01. Retrieved 2017-06-27.
External link in |work= (help)
5. "Indian road network" (http://www.nhai.org/roadnetwork.htm). National Highways Authority of India.
Retrieved 18 April 2015.
6. Mahapatra, Dhananjay (2 July 2013). "NDA regime constructed 50% of national highways laid in last 30
years: Centre" (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NDA-regime-constructed-50-of-national-highways-l
aid-in-last-30-years-Centre/articleshow/20869113.cms). The Times of India. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
7. Balchand, K. (23 March 2010). "Two-laning of entire NH network by 2014" (http://www.hindu.com/2010/0
3/23/stories/2010032360821800.htm). The Hindu. Chennai, India.
8. "New numbers for national highways" (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/New-numbers-for-n
ational-highways/articleshow/10438355.cms). The Times of India. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 18 April
2015.
9. "The National Highways Act, 1956" (http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/Laws/The-National-Highways-Act-
1956.htm). Retrieved 2 December 2012.
10. "NDA regime constructed 50% of national highways laid in last 30 years: Centre - The Times of India" (htt
p://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NDA-regime-constructed-50-of-national-highways-laid-in-last-30-yea
rs-Centre/articleshow/20869113.cms). The Times of India. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
11. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/National-highways-to-grow-by-50000km-in-6-
months/articleshow/48930651.cms
12. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/national-highway-upgrade-22000-km-to-be-made-four-
lane/
13. [1] (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/New-numbers-for-national-highways/articleshow/1043
8355.cms). Maps of India.

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14. "List of highways in Kerala (http://www.listkerala.com/highways_kerala.htm)". ListKerala.com.

15. "National Highway 47A (http://www.india9.com/i9show/National-Highway-47A-65892.htm)". India9.com.
16. "National Highways Summary - Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India" (http://mort
h.nic.in/showfile.asp?lid=1624). morth.nic.in. Retrieved 2017-08-21.
17. "Welcome to NHAI" (http://www.nhai.org/statewise1.asp). www.nhai.org. Retrieved 2017-08-21.
18. http://nhidcl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/All-projects.pdf

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