Thenational highwaysinIndiaare a network oflimited access roadsowned by theMinistry of Road Transport and Highways.National highways haveflyover accessor somecontrolled-access,where entrance and exit is through the side of the flyover. At each highway intersection, flyovers are provided to bypass the traffic on the city, town, or village. These highways are designed for speeds of 100 km/h. Some national highways have interchanges in between, but do not have total controlled-access throughout the highways. The highways are constructed and managed by theCentral Public Works Department(CPWD), theNational Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited(NHIDCL), and thepublic works departments(PWD) of state governments. Currently, the longest national highway in India isNational Highway 44at 4,112 km (2,555 mi). India started four laning of major national highways with theNational Highway Development Project(NHDP). As of March 2022 India has approximately 35,000 km of four laned National highways.
TheNational Highways Authority of India(NHAI) and theNational Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited(NHIDCL) are the nodal agencies responsible for building, upgrading, and maintaining most of the National Highways network. It operates under theMinistry of Road Transport and Highways.TheNational Highways Development Project(NHDP) is a major effort to expand and upgrade the network of highways. NHAI often uses apublic–private partnershipmodel for highway maintenance, and toll-collection. NHIDCL uses Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) model to build, develop and maintain strategic roads in international borders of the country.
In India, National Highways areat-grade roads,whereas Expressways arecontrolled-access highwayswhere entrance and exit is controlled by the userampsthat are incorporated into thedesign of the expressway.National Highways follows standards set byIndian Roads CongressandBureau of Indian Standards.
Characteristics
editIndia has 161,350 km (100,260 mi) of national highways as of March 2022 compared to 1,01,011 km in FY 2013–14.[1][2][3]In July 2023,Union Road Transport and Highways MinisterNitin Gadkarisaid total length of the national highways in the country increased by about59%in the last nine years.[1]
National highways constituted 2.7% of India's total road network, but carried about 40% of road traffic, as of 2013.[4]In 2016, the government vowed to double the highway length from 1,01,011 to 2,00,000 km.[5]
The majority of existing highways are now four-lane roads (two lanes in each direction), though much of this is being expanded to six or more lanes. Some sections of the network aretoll roads.Only a few highways are built with concrete.Bypasseshave been constructed around larger towns and cities to provide uninterrupted passage for highway traffic. Some existing roads have been reclassified as national highways.
History
editTheNational Highways Act, 1956[6]provided for public i.e. state investment in the building and maintenance of the highways.
TheNational Highways Authority of Indiawas established by theNational Highways Authority of India Act, 1988.Section 16(1) of the Act states that the function of NHAI is to develop, maintain, and manage the National Highways and any other highways vested in, or entrusted to, it by the Government of India.
In 1998 India launched a massive program of highway upgrades, called theNational Highways Development Project(NHDP), in which the main north–south and east–west corridors and highways connecting the four metropolitan cities (Delhi,Mumbai,ChennaiandKolkata) have been fully paved and widened into four-lane highways. Some of the busier National Highway sectors in India were also converted to four- or six-lane limited-access highways.
National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limitedstarted functioning as of 18 July 2014.[7]It is a fully owned company ofGovernment of IndiaunderMinistry of Road Transport and Highwaysand was created to develop, maintain and manage the national highways, strategic roads and other infrastructure of India. It was dedicated to the task of promoting regional connectivity in parts of the country which share international boundaries. It is responsible for the development, maintenance and management of National Highways in hilly terrain of North-East part of India, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Uttarakhand. It works as a specialised agency in high altitude areas and border areas. Apart from highways, NHIDCL is constructing logictic hubs and transport related infrastructure e.g.multimodal transporthubs such as bus ports, container depots, automated multilevel car parking etc.
TheMinistry of Road Transport and Highwaysadopted a new systematic numbering of National Highways in April 2010.[8]It is a systematic numbering scheme based on the orientation and the geographic location of the highway. The new system indicates the direction of National Highways whether they are east–west (odd numbers) or north–south (even numbers). It also indicates the geographical region where they are with even numbers increasing from east to west starting from NH2 and odd numbers increasing from north to south starting from NH1.[9]
Bharatmala,a centrally-sponsored and funded road and highways project of theGovernment of India[10]with a target of constructing 83,677 km (51,994 mi)[11]of new highways, was started in 2018. Phase I of the Bharatmala project involves the construction of 34,800 km of highways (including the remaining projects under NHDP) at an estimated cost of₹5.35lakhcrore(US$64 billion) by 2021–22.[12]
Expanding National Highway Network
editThe average speed of NH construction has also seen a significant increase, from a baseline of 12.1 km/day in 2014 rising to 28.3 km/day (143%).
The speed of highway construction reached 37 km per day in 2020-21, a record for fastest highway construction in India.[13]
Network length
editYear | Total length in km |
---|---|
2022-2023 | |
2021 - 2022 | |
2020 - 2021 | |
2019 - 2020 | |
2018 - 2019 | |
2017 - 2018 | |
2016 - 2017 | |
2015 - 2016 | |
2014 - 2015 | |
2013 - 2014 | |
2012 - 2013 | |
2011 - 2012 | |
2010 - 2011 | |
2009 - 2010 | |
2008 - 2009 | |
2007 - 2008 | |
2006 - 2007 | |
2005 - 2006 | |
2004 - 2005 | |
2003 - 2004 | |
2002 - 2003 | |
2001 - 2002 | |
1991 - 2001 | |
1981 - 1991 | |
1971 - 1981 | |
1961 - 1971 | |
1950 - 1961 |
State / union territory | State PWD | NHAI | NHIDCL[18] | Total length as on 31.03.2019 (km) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 87 | 331 | ||
Andhra Pradesh | 6,912 | |||
Arunachal Pradesh | 1,035 | 2,537 | ||
Assam | 1,010 | 3,909 | ||
Bihar | 5,358 | |||
Chandigarh | 15 | |||
Chhattisgarh | 3,605 | |||
Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 31 | |||
Daman and Diu | 22 | |||
Delhi | 157 | |||
Goa | 293 | |||
Gujarat | 6,635 | |||
Haryana | 3,166 | |||
Himachal Pradesh | 320 | 2,607 | ||
Jammu & Kashmir | 436 | 2,423 | ||
Jharkhand | 3,367 | |||
Karnataka | 7,335 | |||
Kerala | 1,782 | |||
Lakshadweep | 0 | |||
Madhya Pradesh | 8,772 | |||
Maharashtra | 17,757 | |||
Manipur | 1,751 | 1,750 | ||
Meghalaya | 823 | 1,156 | ||
Mizoram | 372 | 1422.5 | ||
Nagaland | 324 | 1,548 | ||
Odisha | 5,762 | |||
Puducherry | 27 | |||
Punjab | 3,274 | |||
Rajasthan | 10,342 | |||
Sikkim | 595 | 463 | ||
Tamil Nadu | 6,742 | |||
Telangana | 3,795 | |||
Tripura | 573 | 854 | ||
Uttarakhand | 660 | 2,949 | ||
Uttar Pradesh | 11,737 | |||
West Bengal | 4 | 3,664 | ||
India total | 48,590[19] | 7,990 | 132,500[20] |
Year wise national highways in India, by state and union territory
editAs at end-March and length in kms.
Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India.[21]
State/union territory | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
Andhra Pradesh | 4472 | 4472 | 4472 | 4472 | 4537 | 4537 | 4537 | 4537 | 5022 | 6590 |
Arunachal Pradesh | 392 | 392 | 392 | 392 | 1992 | 1992 | 1992 | 2027 | 2027 | 2027 |
Assam | 2836 | 2836 | 2836 | 2836 | 2836 | 2836 | 2836 | 2940 | 2940 | 3634 |
Bihar | 3537 | 3642 | 3642 | 3642 | 3642 | 3642 | 3642 | 4106 | 4168 | 4467 |
Chandigarh | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
Chhattisgarh | 2184 | 2184 | 2184 | 2184 | 2184 | 2184 | 2184 | 2289 | 2289 | 3031 |
Delhi | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 |
Goa | 269 | 269 | 269 | 269 | 269 | 269 | 269 | 269 | 269 | 269 |
Gujarat | 2871 | 3245 | 3245 | 3245 | 3245 | 3245 | 3245 | 4032 | 3828 | 4694 |
Haryana | 1468 | 1512 | 1512 | 1512 | 1512 | 1518 | 1518 | 1633 | 1633 | 2050 |
Himachal Pradesh | 1208 | 1208 | 1208 | 1208 | 1409 | 1409 | 1409 | 1506 | 1506 | 2196 |
Jammu and Kashmir | 823 | 1245 | 1245 | 1245 | 1245 | 1245 | 1245 | 1245 | 1695 | 2319 |
Jharkhand | 1805 | 1805 | 1805 | 1805 | 1805 | 1805 | 1805 | 2170 | 2374 | 2968 |
Karnataka | 3843 | 3843 | 3843 | 3843 | 4396 | 4396 | 4396 | 4396 | 4642 | 6177 |
Kerala | 1440 | 1440 | 1440 | 1457 | 1457 | 1457 | 1457 | 1457 | 1457 | 1700 |
Madhya Pradesh | 5200 | 4670 | 4670 | 4670 | 4670 | 5027 | 5027 | 5064 | 5116 | 5116 |
Maharashtra | 4176 | 4176 | 4176 | 4176 | 4176 | 4191 | 4191 | 4257 | 4498 | 6249 |
Manipur | 959 | 959 | 959 | 959 | 959 | 959 | 959 | 1317 | 1317 | 1452 |
Meghalaya | 810 | 810 | 810 | 810 | 810 | 810 | 810 | 1171 | 1171 | 1171 |
Mizoram | 927 | 927 | 927 | 927 | 927 | 927 | 927 | 1027 | 1027 | 122 |
Nagaland | 494 | 494 | 494 | 494 | 494 | 494 | 494 | 494 | 494 | 741 |
Odisha | 3704 | 3704 | 3704 | 3704 | 3704 | 3704 | 3704 | 3704 | 4416 | 4550 |
Puducherry | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 |
Punjab | 1557 | 1557 | 1557 | 1557 | 1557 | 1557 | 1557 | 1557 | 1557 | 1699 |
Rajasthan | 5585 | 5585 | 5585 | 5585 | 5585 | 5585 | 5585 | 7130 | 7180 | 7646 |
Sikkim | 62 | 62 | 62 | 62 | 62 | 62 | 62 | 149 | 149 | 149 |
Tamil Nadu | 4183 | 4462 | 4462 | 4462 | 4832 | 4832 | 4832 | 4943 | 4943 | 4975 |
Telangana | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Tripura | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 509 |
Uttar Pradesh | 5599 | 5874 | 5874 | 5874 | 6774 | 6774 | 6774 | 7818 | 7818 | 7986 |
Uttarakhand | 1991 | 1991 | 1991 | 1991 | 2042 | 2042 | 2042 | 2042 | 2042 | 2282 |
West Bengal | 2325 | 2377 | 2377 | 2524 | 2578 | 2578 | 2578 | 2681 | 2681 | 2908 |
All India | 65569 | 66590 | 66590 | 66754 | 70548 | 70934 | 70934 | 76818 | 79116 | 91287 |
State-wise length of National Highways[22]
Note: Yearly data for 2018 and 2020 are not available.
State/union territory | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 331 | 331 | 331 | 331 | 331 | |||
Andhra Pradesh | 4670 | 5465 | 6383 | 6912 | 7340 | |||
Arunachal Pradesh | 2513 | 2513 | 2537 | 2537 | 2537 | |||
Assam | 3784 | 3821 | 3845 | 3909 | 3936 | |||
Bihar | 4701 | 4839 | 4839 | 5358 | 5421 | |||
Chandigarh | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | |||
Chhattisgarh | 3079 | 3078 | 3523 | 3605 | 3620 | |||
Delhi | 80 | 80 | 79 | 157 | 157 | |||
Goa | 262 | 262 | 293 | 293 | 299 | |||
Gujarat | 4971 | 4971 | 5456 | 6635 | 7744 | |||
Haryana | 2307 | 2622 | 2741 | 3166 | 3237 | |||
Himachal Pradesh | 2466 | 2642 | 2643 | 2607 | 2607 | |||
Jammu and Kashmir | 2593 | 2601 | 2601 | 2423 | 2423 | |||
Jharkhand | 2632 | 2654 | 2661 | 3367 | 3367 | |||
Karnataka | 6432 | 6503 | 6991 | 7335 | 7412 | |||
Kerala | 1811 | 1812 | 1782 | 1782 | 1782 | |||
Madhya Pradesh | 5184 | 5194 | 8053 | 8772 | 8941 | |||
Maharashtra | 7048 | 7435 | 16239 | 17757 | 17931 | |||
Manipur | 1746 | 1746 | 1746 | 1750 | 1750 | |||
Meghalaya | 1204 | 1203 | 1204 | 1156 | 1156 | |||
Mizoram | 1381 | 1381 | 1423 | 1423 | 1423 | |||
Nagaland | 1080 | 1150 | 1547 | 1548 | 1548 | |||
Odisha | 4645 | 4838 | 5413 | 5762 | 5897 | |||
Puducherry | 64 | 64 | 64 | 27 | 64 | |||
Punjab | 2239 | 2769 | 3228 | 3274 | 4099 | |||
Rajasthan | 7886 | 7906 | 8972 | 10342 | 10350 | |||
Sikkim | 309 | 463 | 463 | 463 | 709 | |||
Tamil Nadu | 5006 | 4946 | 5918 | 6742 | 6858 | |||
Telangana | 2687 | 2696 | 3786 | 3795 | 3974 | |||
Tripura | 577 | 805 | 854 | 854 | 854 | |||
Uttar Pradesh | 8483 | 8483 | 9017 | 11737 | 11831 | |||
Uttarakhand | 2842 | 2714 | 2842 | 2949 | 3106 | |||
West Bengal | 2910 | 2956 | 3004 | 3664 | 3665 | |||
All India | 97991 | 101011 | 120493 | 132500 | 136440 |
Funding
editNational Highways Authority of India has enough funds to increase the pace of road building. At the listing ceremony of the National Highways Infra Trust's (NHAI InVITs) non-convertible debentures, the National Highway Infra Trust issued and listed Non-Convertible Debentures or NCDs worth Rs 1,500 crore on the Bombay Stock Exchange, with a long-dated maturity of 25 years.[23]
NHAI collected tolls worth Rs 34,742 crore on national highways in FY22.[24]Additionally NHAI toll revenue will to soar to Rs 1.40 lakh crores in next three years.[25]
Future
editBrownfield National Highway Projects is an upgrading/widening of existing four lane highways into six lane highways which are not controlled access highways.[26]
Trivia
edit- The longest national highway isNH44,[27]which runs betweenSrinagarinJammu and KashmirandKanyakumariinTamil Nadu,covering a distance of 3,806 km (2,365 mi).
- The shortest national highway isNH766EE,[28][29]which spans 4.27 km (2.65 mi), fromHettikeritoBelekeri portinKarnataka.
- TheLeh–Manali HighwayconnectingLehinLadakhtoManaliinHimachal Pradeshis the world's second highest-altitude motorable highway.[citation needed]
See also
editReferences and notes
edit- ^ab"India's road network grows 59% in last 9 years: Gadkari".27 June 2023.
- ^NATIONALHighways construction touches record 37 km per day: GadkariArchived9 April 2021 at theWayback MachineThe Hindu.Retrieved 29 August 2021
- ^"Construction of national highways at 10,331 km in 2022-23-MoRTH".25 April 2023.
- ^Mahapatra, Dhananjay (2 July 2013)."NDA regime constructed 50% of national highways laid in last 30 years: Centre".The Times of India.Retrieved18 April2015.
- ^"National Highways road length to be increased from 1,01,011 km to 2,00,000 km: Nitin Gadkari".The Financial Express.17 December 2016.Retrieved27 June2017.
- ^"The National Highways Act, 1956".Archived fromthe originalon 14 February 2012.Retrieved2 December2012.
- ^"NHIDCL Ministry of RT&H".
- ^"Rationalisation of Numbering Systems of National Highways"(PDF).New Delhi:Department of Road Transport and Highways.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 16 August 2016.Retrieved2 September2012.
- ^"New numbers for national highways".The Times of India.21 October 2011.Retrieved18 April2015.
- ^"Bharat Mala: PM Narendra Modi's planned Rs 14,000 crore road from Gujarat to Mizoram",The Economic Times,New Delhi,29 April 2015, archived fromthe originalon 2 May 2015
- ^"Ministry proposes construction of 20,000 km of roads under Bharat Mala project",The Economic Times,New Delhi,9 January 2016, archived fromthe originalon 25 March 2016
- ^"Bharatmala Pariyojana - A Stepping Stone towards New India | National Portal of India".www.india.gov.in.Retrieved18 January2018.
- ^https://pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=151870&ModuleId=3
- ^https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/Annual%20Report%20-%202021%20(English)_compressed.pdfArchived16 November 2021 at theWayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
- ^https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/Annual%20Report_21-22-1.pdfArchived31 July 2022 at theWayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
- ^"National Highways Summary - Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India".morth.nic.in.Retrieved21 August2017.
- ^"Welcome to NHAI".www.nhai.org.Archived fromthe originalon 15 February 2013.Retrieved21 August2017.
- ^"Overview of All NHIDCL Projects"(PDF).nhidcl.com.15 February 2017.Retrieved19 December2020.
- ^http://nhai.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/AnnualReport201516.pdfArchived10 December 2019 at theWayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
- ^https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/Summary-of-NHs_1.pdfArchived15 April 2021 at theWayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
- ^Table 123: State-wise Length of National Highways 2005 - 2019Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India
- ^"Reserve Bank of India - Publications".
- ^"NHAI has enough cash to speed up road building: Gadkari at NCD listing event".28 October 2022.
- ^"Toll worth Rs34,742 crore collected on national highways in FY22".
- ^Mishra, Twesh (6 September 2022)."NHAI toll revenue to soar to Rs 1.40 lakh crores in three years: Nitin Gadkari".The Economic Times.
- ^"Brownfield National Highway Project | CEPT - Portfolio".
- ^"New numbers for national highwaysArchived20 May 2015 at theWayback Machine".Maps of India.
- ^"List of highways in Karnatakaa".nhai.gov.in.
- ^"National Highway 536Archived25 September 2021 at theWayback Machine".India9.com.