National highways of India

Characteristics

India has 161350 km of national highways as of March 2022 compared to 101,011 km in FY 2013–14. In July 2023, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari claimed total length of the national highways in the country increased by about 59% in the span of the last nine years.

As of 2013, National highways constituted 2.7% of India's total road network, but carried about 40% of road traffic. In 2016, the government vowed to double the highway length from 101,011 to 200,000 km.

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 are toll roads. Only a few highways are built with concrete. Bypasses have been constructed around larger towns and cities to provide uninterrupted passage for highway traffic. Some existing roads have been reclassified as national highways.

History

The National Highways Act, 1956 provided for public i.e. state investment in the building and maintenance of the highways.

The National Highways Authority of India was established by the National 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 the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), in which the main north–south and east–west 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 were also converted to four- or six-lane limited-access highways.

The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited started functioning as of 18 July 2014. It is a fully owned company of the Government of India, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and 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 transport hubs such as bus ports, container depots, automated multilevel car parking etc.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways adopted a new systematic numbering of National Highways in April 2010. 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.

Bharatmala, a centrally-sponsored and funded road and highways project of the Government of India with a target of constructing 83677 km 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 by 2021–22.

List of national highways in India

Main article: List of national highways in India

Expanding National Highway Network

The 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.

Network length

Year wise national highways in India, by state and union territory

As at end-March and length in kms.

Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India.

State-wise length of National Highways

Note: Yearly data for 2018 and 2020 are not available.

Funding

National 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 (NCDs) worth Rs 1,500 crore on the Bombay Stock Exchange, with a long-dated maturity of 25 years.

NHAI collected tolls worth Rs 34,742 crore on national highways in FY22. Additionally NHAI toll revenue is expected to rise to Rs. 1.40 lakh crores by 2028.

Future

Brownfield National Highway Projects is an upgrading/widening of existing four lane highways into six lane highways which are not controlled access highways.

Trivia

• The longest national highway is NH44, which runs between Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, covering a distance of 4112 km.
• The shortest national highway is NH766EE, which spans 4.27 km, from Hettikeri to Belekeri port in Karnataka.
• The Leh–Manali Highway connecting Leh in Ladakh to Manali in Himachal Pradesh is the second highest-altitude motorable highway in the world.

References and notes

References

1. (27 June 2023). "India's road network grows 59% in last 9 years: Gadkari".
2. [https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/highways-construction-touches-record-37-km-per-day-gadkari/article34221788.ece NATIONALHighways construction touches record 37 km per day: Gadkari] {{Webarchive. link. (9 April 2021 ''The Hindu''. Retrieved 29 August 2021)
3. (25 April 2023). "Construction of national highways at 10,331 km in 2022-23-MoRTH".
4. Mahapatra, Dhananjay. (2 July 2013). "NDA regime constructed 50% of national highways laid in last 30 years: Centre". The Times of India.
5. (17 December 2016). "National Highways road length to be increased from 1,01,011 km to 2,00,000 km: Nitin Gadkari". The Financial Express.
6. "The National Highways Act, 1956".
7. "NHIDCL Ministry of RT&H".
8. "Rationalisation of Numbering Systems of National Highways". [[Department of Road Transport and Highways]].
9. (21 October 2011). "New numbers for national highways". The Times of India.
10. (29 April 2015). "Bharat Mala: PM Narendra Modi's planned Rs 14,000 crore road from Gujarat to Mizoram". [[The Economic Times]].
11. (9 January 2016). "Ministry proposes construction of 20,000 km of roads under Bharat Mala project". [[The Economic Times]].
12. "Bharatmala Pariyojana - A Stepping Stone towards New India {{!}} National Portal of India".
13. "Ministry of Information & Broadcasting".
14. "Year End Review 2023-Ministry of Road Transport and Highways". Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
15. "Annual Report 2020-2021". Bharatmala.
16. "Annual Report 2021-2022". Bharatmala.
17. "National Highways Summary - Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India".
18. "Welcome to NHAI".
19. (15 Feb 2017). "Overview of All NHIDCL Projects".
20. "2015-16 Annual Report". National Highways Authority of India.
21. "The details of National Highways (New No.) in the country and their length".
22. [https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publications/PDFs/T_123FB5090B95B794F0EA160E4CA455E347F.PDF Table 123: State-wise Length of National Highways 2005 - 2019] ''Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India''
23. "Reserve Bank of India - Publications".
24. (28 October 2022). "NHAI has enough cash to speed up road building: Gadkari at NCD listing event".
25. "Toll worth Rs34,742 crore collected on national highways in FY22".
26. (6 September 2022). "NHAI toll revenue to soar to Rs 1.40 lakh crores in three years: Nitin Gadkari". The Economic Times.
27. "Brownfield National Highway Project | CEPT - Portfolio".
28. "[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/New-numbers-for-national-highways/articleshow/10438355.cms New numbers for national highways] {{Webarchive. link. (20 May 2015 ". ''Maps of India''.)
29. "[http://www.listkerala.com/highways_karnataka.htm List of highways in Karnatakaa]{{Dead link. (January 2025)
30. "[http://www.india9.com/i9show/National-Highway-536-.htm National Highway 536] {{Webarchive. link. (25 September 2021 ". ''India9.com''.)