National Highway (India)
The National Highway Network of India is a system of trunk roads with a length of over 70,000 km that is maintained by the Indian government.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the agency commissioned by the government to build, maintain and expand the network. The NHAI is responsible for the implementation of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), which describes the expansion of the roads and the system. The national highways are financed partly from taxes and partly from public-private partnership models.
National highways are 2% of the roads in India, but they carry 40% of all road traffic. Much of the National Highways consists of two-lane roads. The National Highway Development Project ensures the expansion to four and sometimes also six lanes. There are plans to build over 30,000 km of new national highways.
history
The historically most important highway in India was the Grand Trunk Road . Since the 19th century, the British have expanded the highway network in India.
Today's trunk road system
India has 70,934 km of national highways that connect all major cities and capitals of the states. In 2010, around 19,000 km of it were single-lane roads, but the government has set itself the ambitious goal of expanding all roads to at least two lanes by 2014.
The connection of the Manali-Leh-Highway , which connects Leh in Ladakh with Manali and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh , runs not only over the Rohtang Pass but also over the Taglang Pass and is therefore the highest highway in the world.
On the edge of the National Highways there are small restaurants and food stalls that offer simple food and drinks and serve as rest stops.
In April 2010 the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways decided on a new numbering system for the national highways. The new system will show the route of the National Highway. Odd numbers are for the national highways that run east to west and even numbers are for those that run north to south. The number increases from north to south or from east to west. However, the implementation of this new scheme is slow. (As of November 2010)
Future development
Under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee the National Highway Development Project was decided. The project envisages an expansion of the national highways and gives priority to the expansion of the Golden Quadrilateral and the north-south and east-west corridor .
In addition, bypasses are being built around cities in order to make the flow of traffic on the national highways as smooth as possible, and additional roads will be added to the network of national highways.
The National Highway Act of 1956 was changed in such a way that, in addition to financing through taxes, private public partnership models are also possible.
More trunk roads
- National Expressway is a special class of National Highways, the use of which is regulated similar to that of a motorway . A fee may also be charged for using a National Expressway.
- State highways are in the order below the national highways and are maintained by the respective Indian states. State highways usually connect larger cities within the states.
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- National Highways Agency of India official website
- Progress of the National Highway Development Plan website will be adjusted as construction progresses.
- Ministry of Road Transport and Highways : Rationalization of Numbering System of National Highways (PDF; 3.4 MB)