India Road Map Road Map Of India
India has a vast network of national highways that cover the length and breadth of the country. India has a total of 65,569 km of highways. The longest National Highway is NH 7, which goes from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to the southernmost tip of India, Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu. It covers a distance of 2369 kms. One of India's very famous highway projects is the Golden Quadrilateral Highway Project, connecting India's four metropolitan cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta and Chennai. With travel, information technology, insurance, mortgage, real estate, consultancy and tourism industry doing enormous business, India's service sector is experiencing a boom. Most popular tourist destinations in India are Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Kerala, Goa, Orissa, Chennai and Bangalore. They have state of the art hotels and resorts for the comfort of tourists.
National Highways:
The country’s road network consists of Expressways, National Highways, State Highways, Major District Roads, Other District Roads, and Village Roads.
The National Highways and State Highways together account for 195000-kilometer
length.
The National Highway comprises only 1.94% of the total length of roads but carries about 40% of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country.
In the Tenth Plan - 2002-2007, a large chunk is allotted for the development of the transport system namely – National Highways, State Highways and major District Roads, and Rural Roads.
Under this five-year plan the completion of the National Highways Development Program (NHDP) Phase-I and Phase-II as well as elimination of deficiencies in the existing National Highway Network is envisaged.
NORTH ZONE
NH 1 - Delhi-Jalandhar-Amritsar-Wagah Border
NH 2 - Delhi-Agra-Allahabad-Kolkata
NH 3 - Agra-Indore-Dhule-Mumbai
NH 7 - Varanasi-Nagpur-Bangalore- Kannyakumari
NH 8 - Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmadabad-Mumbai
NH 10 - Pacca-Chisti-Fazilika-Abohar-Delhi
NH 11 - Agra-Jaipur-Bikaner
NH 20 - Pathankot-Gaggal-Palampur- Mandi
WEST ZONE
NH 4 - Thane-Pune-Bangalore-Chennai
NH 5 - Jharpokaria-Baleshwar-Cuttack-Vijaywada-Chennai
NH 6 - Dhule-Nagpur-Kolkata
NH 9 - Pune-Solapur-Hyderabad-Vijaywada
NH 12 - Jaipur-Bhopal-Jabalpur
NH 14 - Radhanpur- Sirohi-Beawar
NH 15 - Pathankot- Amritsar-Jaisalmer- Samkhiyali
NH 50 - Pune – Khed- Nadur- Sinner
Roadways In India
India's Who's Who ?
Roadways in India have come a long way. Starting from the pugdandies (a small path created naturally due to frequent walks) of earlier times to the present-day Rajpath of delhi , the country has crossed many spheres of road travel. The 'thread that binds the nation together' is truly a deserving metaphor for a road network that is one of the largest in the world. Its grand system of national highways, state highways and the roads that run endlessly within cities are marvelous.India has its well-connected transport network since the time people started keeping records. The great indian epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata mention chariots and carts embellished with various gems and precious metals. The Pushpak Vimana or the bejeweled chariot, which was in Lanka, the kingdom of Ravana, is described in detail in the Ramayana. Horses, asses, and mules were used to draw these carts. Some 2,500-10,000 years ago, our ancestors traveled through woods on hunting sprees and left traces of their mud tracks known as pugdandies-the most ancient trace of roads. Harappan and Mohenjodaro civilization, which dates back circa fourth millennium BC, provides ample understanding of roads. The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) brought out a book in 1963 which states, "The streets were laid out in regular order and ran in straight lines. The main streets were aligned from east to west or from north to south crossing each other at right angles. Small deviations from this general plan exist, but they are very rare. The minor streets were laid parallel to the main streets. The main streets were of considerable size. The biggest street so far excavated is about half a mile long and about thirty-three feet wide…" It is interesting to note that in Harappan culture there was no use of bitumen for making roads, though in Babylonian civilization one find ample evidence of the use of bitumen in road construction.
In the Atharva Veda, we find references to road construction and information on precautions to be taken. There is mention in Kautilya's Arthasashtra about mechanism of roads for chariots and stresses upon the traffic rules and road safety. From the 6th century to 4th century BC, there was development of small independent states in several parts ofIndia. With the development of culture and trade, cities like Vaishali, Sravasti, Rajagriha, Kurukshetra, and Ujjaini had roads to facilitate socio-economic intermingling. Ujjaini, capital of Avanti, was an important trade center and connected with northern trunk routes to modern Bharuch, an important seaport. Development of roads took a new turn during Mauryan rule in the 4th century. The administration constructed Rajpath (high roads) and Banikpaths (merchant roads). Megasthenes, the Greek traveler, wrote that the Mauryan Empire took a big stride to develop roads for communication. He recorded a Rajamarga or the king's highway, which was also a trade route and a precursor to the modern Grand Trunk Road. It was nearly 22 km wide and 2,400 km in length with a pillar every 1.8 km. It had trees, wells, and rest houses on either side. Any traffic jam on the Rajamarga was liable to punishment! And, of course, it goes without saying that maintenance of roads was a significant feature of a Mauryan administration.
This tradition continued and Chandragupta's grandson, Ashoka, who was a great and compassionate ruler, strengthened the system immensely. He erected huge monoliths across the country and ensured that there were good roads for his men to travel upon. He had given special and very strict instructions that there should be a banyan tree (Ficus bengalhensis) every 1.5 km and also well-maintained rest houses and watering stations. There is story that many centuries later a king wanted to remove one of Ashoka's roadside pillars. He had to use 2400 men to lift it. Judging by the weight of the pillar the road must have been sufficiently strong and wide to bear its weight. In Mauryan day's, roads played a key role in military operations to keep the vast country united. Records reveal that during the Gupta era there was also a road connection with South India. There were three major routes-one was a connection with NortheastIndia via Didisa, the other connected to the seaport of the Western coast and the third connected to Pratisthana, the capital of Satvahana Empire. There are also evidences of a route facilitating trade with Iran and China.
If kings and emperors built roads, there are also stories of how saints traversed these roads to prove their existence. Sankara, a great South Indian philosopher, traversed the whole length and breadth of the country setting up five very pilgrimage centers. He did all his traveling before the age of 32, when he died. So that is eloquent of how many roads must have been there for his entire journey was accomplished on foot.The Mughal era was the golden era for roads as the whole ofIndia was effectively connected to control the vast empire. With the advent of the British, a new awakening dawned uponIndiaThe EastIndia Company revived ancient routes and renovation was initiated. The technology of the West came into play and linkages were well established which provided the British the inroad to ruleIndia for over two hundred years.Thus, one can see that since ancient times roads were stressed upon. Roads also worked as inroads to the development of civilizations, and provided human beings a corridor of communication for venturing out to newer frontiers of achievements.
In the nineteenth century, the old modes of transport, the cart and the carriage, were still used. The new additions, especially in the north ofIndia, were all horse drawn. They were the tonga, ekka, and shikram (a box-like four-wheeler). Carriages on the European pattern also came into use such as the landau, buggy, trap, phaeton or Victoria. Hand-drawn and hand-pushed carts were also used for conveying people. The palanquin and dolie carried by men were also used as transport for people. Today, alternative modes of transport are on the anvil. Yet, amidst all this, Road transport is still the dominant mode of transportation - both for moving goods and passengers. India has a huge network of roads comprising of National Highways, State Highways, Major District Roads and Village and other roads .In fact, it is the third largest road network in the world covering a total length of 33,00,000 km. The road network is assuming a pivotal role in the movement of goods and passengers. There has been a substantial shift in the mode of transportation from Railways towards the road sector. While the Railways handle only 40% of the freight and 20% of the passengers load, 60% of the goods and 80% of passenger's movement takes place through roads. It is anticipated that the function of the road network will further increase in the foreseeable future. Though the National Highways constitute only 2% of the entire road network, they carry about 40% of the freight and passengers. The National Highways cover a length of 52000 km and pass through every state of India. They are the vital lifelines of the economy making possible trade and commerce.
The National Highways besides connecting the major cites,i.e,delhi , Mumbai , Chennai and Calcutta link a number of other important towns and commercial hubs .The National Highways pass through the following cities and towns: delhi , Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kullu, Shimla, Jammu, Kangra, Amritsar, Agra, Lukhnow, Gorakhpur, Bagdogra, Guwahati, Jorhat, Patna, Ranchi, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Jaipur, Gwalior, Jodhpur, Udaipur ,Bhopal, Vadodara, Jamnagar ,Rajkot ,Bhavnagar ,Aurangabad ,Nagpur ,Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati ,Banglore, Manglore, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Thiruvanathapuram, Madras, Bombay and Trivandrum. There are 259 National Highways on the basis of their route numbers. However, the construction and upkeeping of roads is one of the country's most continuous and expensive tasks. Driven by the ambition to connect the various regions of the country with high quality motorable roads, the Ministry of Surface Transport so far has laid down a stretch of 52,010 km of national highways in the country distributed over various states.>
