Roads and Highways
India has the second largest road network in the world (about 6.3 million km in 2023-24, mostly rural), with national highways at about 1.46 lakh km (2024-25; check MoRTH).
Road classification
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| National Highways (NH) | Maintained by the Centre via NHAI and MoRTH; about 2 percent of roads but carry about 40 percent of traffic |
| State Highways | State PWDs |
| District roads | Major district roads link production sites |
| Rural roads | PMGSY (2000) |
| Border roads | BRO (1960), which builds roads in border areas; Ladakh and J&K projects |
| Expressways | Controlled-access roads, e.g. Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (about 1,386 km, under development), Mumbai-Pune, Yamuna Expressway, Purvanchal |
Important highway projects
- Golden Quadrilateral (GQ): connects Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata; 5,846 km; part of NHDP (1998).
- North-South and East-West Corridor: Srinagar to Kanyakumari (NS, 4,000 km) and Silchar to Porbandar (EW, 3,300 km); the junction is at Jhansi (UP).
- Bharatmala Pariyojana (2017); Setu Bharatam; Char Dham Pariyojana (Uttarakhand).
- NH numbering: NH 44 (Srinagar to Kanyakumari, the longest), NH 27 (EW), NH 48 (Delhi-Mumbai), NH 19 (Delhi-Kolkata), NH 1A earlier, now parts of NH 44.
- Under the NH numbering system, even numbers run east-west and odd numbers run north-south; the numbers rise from north to south for east-west highways and from west to east for north-south highways.
- FASTag electronic toll collection (mandatory since 2021).
High-altitude roads and tunnels
- Atal Tunnel, Rohtang (Himachal): 9.02 km, the longest highway tunnel above 10,000 ft; opened 2020.
- Zojila Tunnel (J&K-Ladakh; under construction, to be the longest bidirectional tunnel in Asia; check completion), Z-Morh tunnel (Sonamarg, opened January 2025), Jawahar Tunnel (Banihal), Chenani-Nashri (Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Tunnel, 9.2 km), Banihal-Qazigund; Sela Tunnel (Arunachal).
- Highest motorable road: Umling La (about 19,300 ft, Ladakh); Khardung La is the famous pass (17,582 ft), not the highest.
- Chenab Bridge: highest railway arch bridge in the world, at 359 m (J&K; opened June 2025).
- Bogibeel (Assam): India's longest rail-cum-road bridge; Dhola-Sadiya (Bhupen Hazarika) Setu; Atal Setu (Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, 2024) is the longest sea bridge; Pamban bridge replaced.
Problems
- Congestion, accidents (Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019), poor maintenance, rural connectivity.
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from NCERT, standard geography textbooks, the Census of India 2011, the India State of Forest Report, IMD, Ministry of Agriculture and other official sources. Maps are schematic teaching maps, not Survey of India maps, and zone boundaries are approximate. Figures such as production, capacity, counts of parks and ports, and census status change, so check the latest official source before relying on them. Found a mistake? Tell us.