INDIAN ROAD NETWORK

SUBMITTED BY :PREETPAL SINGH

INTRODUCTIONIndia has a road network of over

4,689,842 kilometres (2,914,133 mi) in 2013, the second largest road network in the world.

At 0.66 km of roads per square kilometre of land, the quantitative density of India's road network is similar to that of the United States (0.65) and far higher than that of China (0.16) or Brazil (0.20).

The roads are primarily made of bitumen, with some Indian National Highways having concrete roads.

The concept of expressway roads is also catching up in India, and the Mumbai-Pune expressway and Delhi Gurgaon expressway are the finest examples

HISTORYThe first evidence of road development

in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to approximately 2800 BC from the ancient cities of Harrapa and Mohenjodaro of the Indus Valley Civilization.

The Grand Trunk Road was built by Sher Shah Suri in 1540-45 connecting Sonargaon near Dhaka in Bangladesh with Peshawar in modern-day Pakistan linking several cities from in India.

India inherited a poor road network infrastructure at the time of its independence in 1947. Beyond that, between 1947 and 1988, India witnessed no new major projects, and the roads were poorly maintained. Predominantly all roads were single lane, and most were unpaved. India had no expressways, and less than 200 kilometers of 4-lane highways.

In 1988, an autonomous entity called the National Highways Authority of India was established in India by an Act of Parliament, and came into existence on 15 June 1989

OVERVIEWRoad transport is vital to India's

economy. It enables the country's transportation sector to contribute 4.7 percent towards India’s gross domestic product, in comparison to railways that contributed 1 percent, in 2009–2010.

India's road network carries over 65 percent of its freight and about 85 percent of passenger traffic.

Indian road network is administered by various government authorities, given India's federal form of government. The table below describes the regulating bodies.

Road classification

Authority responsible Total kilometres (as of 2011)

National Highways

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (Central government)

92,851

State Highways

State governments (state's public works department)

1,63,898

Major and other district roads

Local governments, panchayats and municipalities

17,05,706

Rural roads Local governments, panchayats and municipalities

27,49,805

NATIONAL HIGHWAYS IN INDIA The National Highways are the principal

highways moving across the length and breadth of the nation, joining important harbours, big commercial and tourism hubs, state capitals, and so on.

National Highways in the country are represented as NH and then the highway number comes after it.

The national highway network in India is supervised by the Ministry of State for Surface Transport.

The public works departments of various states look after the state roads and state highways.

The state and union governments have common responsibilities for constructing thoroughfares and sustaining the roadways in the country.

 Indian national highways are further classified based on the width of carriageway of the highway.

As of March 2012, India had completed and placed in use the following newly built highways:

5,846 kilometers of its 4-lane Golden Quadrilateral highway,

6,310 kilometres of its 4-lane North–South and East–West Corridor highway,

353 kilometres of 4-lane port connectivity highways,

4,553 kilometres of 4-lane inter-capital highways,

961 kilometres of 4-lane bypass and other national highways.

NATIONAL HIGHWAY CLASSIFICATION

LANES LENGTH % AGE

Single Lane / Intermediate lane 18,350 26%

Four Lane/Six lane/Eight Lane

16,553 23%

Double lane 36,031 51%

Total 70,934 100%

EXPRESSWAYSExpressways make up approximately

1,208 km (751 mi) of India's road network, as of 2013.

These high-speed roads are four-lane or six-lane, predominantly access controlled

The 165 kilometer Yamuna Expressway, India's longest six-laned controlled-access opened on 9 August 2012.

 The government has drawn up a target to lay 18,637 kilometre network of brand new expressways by 2022

Name Distance State(s)Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway[3]

95 km (59.0 mi) GujaratAllahabad Bypass Expressway[4] 86 km (53.4 mi) Uttar PradeshAmbala Chandigarh Expressway[5]

35 km (21.7 mi) Punjab, HaryanaBelghoria Expressway[6] 8 km (5.0 mi) West BengalChennai Bypass[7] 32 km (19.9 mi) Tamil NaduChennai HSCTC[8] 107 km (66.5 mi) Tamil NaduCoimbatore Bypass[9] 28 km (17.4 mi) Tamil NaduDelhi Faridabad Skyway[11][12] 4.4 km (2.7 mi) National Capital RegionDelhi Noida Direct Flyway[13] 9.2 km (5.7 mi) National Capital RegionDelhi-Gurgaon Expressway[10] 27.7 km (17.2 mi) National Capital RegionDurgapur Expressway[14][15] 65 km (40.4 mi) West BengalHosur Road Elevated Expressway[19]

9.9 km (6.2 mi) KarnatakaHyderabad Elevated Expressways[20][21]

11.6 km (7.2 mi) TelanganaHyderabad ORR[23] 158 km (98.2 mi) TelanganaJaipur Elevated Road[24] 8 km (5.0 mi) RajasthanJaipur-Kishangarh Expressway[25] 90 km (55.9 mi) RajasthanKona Expressway[26] 8 km (5.0 mi) West BengalMumbai Eastern Freeway[16][17][18] 16.8 km (10.44 mi) MaharashtraMumbai Pune Expressway[22] 94.5 km (58.7 mi) MaharashtraNoida-Greater Noida Expressway[27]

24.5 km (15.2 mi) Uttar PradeshPanipat Elevated Expressway[28] 10 km (6.2 mi) HaryanaRaipur-Bhilai-Durg Expressway[29]

26 km (16.2 mi) ChhattisgarhYamuna Expressway[30][31] 165 km (102.5 mi) Uttar Pradesh

LIST OF EXPRESSWAYS

Name Distance StateAgra-Lucknow Expressway[32] 301 km (187.0 mi) Uttar PradeshAmaravathi Outer Ring road[33] 220 km (136.7 mi) Andhra PradeshBiju Expressway[34] 650 km (403.9 mi) OdishaBamroli-Althan Expressway[35] 12 km (7.5 mi) GujaratBangalore-Chennai Expressway[36] 240 km (149.1 mi) Karnataka, Tamil NaduBangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor[37]

111 km (69.0 mi) KarnatakaChennai Elevated Expressways[38] Tamil NaduChennai ORR[39] 62.3 km (38.7 mi) Tamil NaduChennai Port-Maduravoyal Expressway[40]

19 km (11.8 mi) Tamil NaduDelhi Eastern Peripheral Expressway[41]

135.6 km (84.3 mi) National Capital RegionDelhi-Meerut Expressway[42] 150 km (93.2 mi) National Capital RegionDelhi Western Peripheral Expressway[43]

135.6 km (84.3 mi) National Capital RegionGanga Expressway[44][45] 1,047 km (650.6 mi) Uttar PradeshMumbai-Nagpur Expressway[46] 800 km (497.1 mi) MaharashtraMumbai-Nashik Expressway[47][48] 150 km (93.2 mi) MaharashtraMumbai-Vadodara Expressway[49] 380 km (236.1 mi) Maharashtra, GujaratMumbai Western Freeway[50] 25.3 km (15.7 mi) MaharashtraShimla-Chandigarh Expressway[51] 120 km (74.6 mi) Punjab, Himachal PradeshSion-Panvel Expressway[52] 25 km (15.5 mi) MaharashtraUdhampur-Jammu highway[53] 64 km (39.8 mi) Jammu and KashmirUpper Ganga Canal Expressway[54][55] 150 km (93.2 mi) Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

List of Expressways – Under Construction

STATE HIGHWAYSState Governments have the

authority and responsibility to build road networks and state highways. 

State governments have been implementing a number of state highway projects since 2000. By 2010, state highway projects worth $1.7 billion had been completed, and an additional $11.4 billion worth of projects were under implementation.

The State Highways provide linkages with the National Highways, district headquarters, important towns, tourist centers and minor ports and carry the traffic along major centers within the state.

 Their total length is about 137,712 km

MAJOR DISTRICT ROADSThese are important roads within

a district connecting areas of production with markets and connecting these with each other or with the State Highways & National Highways. It also connects Taluka headquarters and rural areas to District headquarters within the state.

RURAL ROADSThe rural roads in India forms a

substantial portion of the Indian road network.

These roads are in poor shape, affecting the rural population's quality of life and Indian farmer's ability to transfer produce to market post-harvest.

 Over 30 percent of Indian farmer's harvest spoils post-harvest because of the poor infrastructure.

For the development of these rural roads, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (or "Prime Minister Rural Roads Scheme"), was launched in December 2000 by the Indian government to provide connectivity to unconnected rural habitations.

 In some parts of India, where the government has attempted to manage it directly as a local social spending program, this program has produced limited results and no lasting change over 10 years, in either the quality or quantity of rural road network.

Rural road network in India, trends over 10 years

Kilometersin 2001

Kilometersas of May 2011

Kilometersunder construction in 2011

Total rural roads 2.7 million 3.1 million 0.1 millionPaved, not maintained rural roads

0.5 million

Unpaved rural roads 2.2 million 1.9 million

Paved, maintained rural roads 728,871 53,634

New rural roads 322,900 82,743

ISSUESThe main roads in India are under huge

pressure and in great need of modernisation in order to handle the increased requirements of the Indian economy.

In addition to maintenance, the expansion of the network and widening of existing roads is becoming increasingly important. This would then enable the roads to handle increased traffic, and also allow for a corresponding increase in the average movement speed on India's roads.

The World Health Organization compilation of road network safety data for major economies found India to have the highest number of road fatalities in the World, with 105,000 road-accident caused deaths in 2006

The low road densities per 1000 people has created significant congestion and slow speeds on existing roads inside cities. Because of the congestion, the fuel efficiency of the vehicles in India is very low. This increases the overall fuel consumption per equivalent kilometer travelled, besides resulting in heavy pollution since the engines run very inefficiently at such low speeds.

Efforts in India to address issues related to road network

India's recent efforts to build modern highways and improve its road network has made a significant difference in trucking logistics. According to DHL, a global logistics company, the average time to truck shipments from New Delhi to Bengaluru (Bangalore), a 2000+ kilometre journey, had dropped in 2008, to about five days

By 2010, the average time to complete a road trip from New Delhi to Mumbai, a 1400+ kilometer journey, had dropped to about 35 hours. In contrast, a similar journey takes about half the time in China, and one third in European Union countries.

In a 2010 report, KPMG – one of the world's largest audit and advisory services company – noted marked improvements in Indian road network and logistics efficiencies in recent years.[45] The report also identified the competitive challenges faced by India. Some findings of this report include:

The average road speed in India has increased to 30–40 kilometers per hour. The worldwide average road speed, which includes China, ranges between 60–80 kilometers per hour.

Four lane road network in India has increased to 7,000 kilometers. China, in comparison, has 34,000 kilometers of equivalent quality four lane roads.

Average surface freight costs have dropped to US$0.07 per kilometer. Japan, in comparison, has average surface freight costs of US$0.037 per kilometer.

The KPMG report also notes that India's road network logistics and transportation bottlenecks hinder its GDP growth by one to two percent (US$16 billion – US$32 billion). In India's 2010 per capita income basis, this is equivalent to a loss of about 10 million new jobs every year. 

The planned addition of over 12,000 kilometers of expressways in the next 10 years may help address some of such issues.