roadways

Transport is considered as the lifeline of a country

Roadways

• Indian roads are cost efficient.

• [[Shershah suri]] built the shahi (Royal) road to strengthen and consolidate his empire from the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] to the Sonar valley in Bengal.

• This road from Kolkata to Peshawar was renamed as Grand Trunk(GT) road during the British period.

• At present, it extends from Amristar to Kolkata.

• Road density is the highest in [[Kerala]] and lowest in [[Jammu & Kashmir]].

National Highways (NH)

• National Highways form the most important system of road transportation in India.
• These highways are running through length and breadth of the country connecting capitals of states, major Ports, rail junctions, industrial and tourist centres.
• Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India, is responsible for the development and maintenance of National Highways in India.
• The longest National highway is NH-44 which runs from Srinagar in Jammu Kashmir to Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu covering a distance of 4076 km.
• The shortest national highway is NH-47A, which runs from Ernakulum to Kochi port (Willington Island) covering a distance of 6 km.
• National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was established in 1995.
• It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Surface Transport.

State Highways

• The state highways are usually roads that link important cities, towns and district headquarters within the state and connect them with national highways or highways of neighbouring states.
• These roads are administered and financed by state governments.

District Roads

• District Roads provide connectivity between the district and taluk headquarters with the state highways and national highways.
• District Roads are constructed and maintained by the Public Works Department of the states

Rural Roads (Village Roads)

• These roads are vital for providing links in the rural areas.
• It links the different villages with their neighbouring towns.
• They are maintained by Village Panchayats.

Border Roads

• These are the roads of strategic importance in border areas.
• They are constructed and maintained by Border Roads Organization.
• It was established in 1960 for the development of the roads of strategic importance in the northern and northeastern border areas.
• Border Roads Organization has constructed world’s highest road joining Chandigarh and Leh in Ladakh.
• This road runs at an average altitude of 4,270 meters.

Golden Quadrilateral

• Golden Quadrilateral 5,846 km long road of 4/6 lanes connects, India’s four metropolitan cities: Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai-Delhi.
• This project was launched in 1999.

North–South and East-West Corridors

• North-South corridor aims at connecting Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir with Kaniyakumari in Tamil Nadu (including Kochi-Salem Spur) with 4,076km long road.
• The East-West corridor has been planned to connect Silchar in Assam with the port town of Porbandar in Gujarat with 3,640km of road length.
• The two corridors intersect at Jhansi.

Expressways

• These are multi-lane good quality highways for high speed traffic.
• Some of the important expressways are;
  • Mumbai-Pune Road
  • Kolkata-Dumdum Airport road
  • Durgapur Kolkata road
  • Yamuna expressway b/w Delhi and Agra.

International Highways

• These are the roads that link India with neighbouring countries for promoting harmonious relationship with them.
• These highways have been constructed with an aid from [[World Bank]] under an agreement with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP).
• These roads connect important highways of India with those of the neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.