National Highway 44 (NH 44) is the longest-running major north–south National Highway in India. It starts from Srinagar and terminates in Kanyakumari; the highway passes through the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. NH-44 was laid and is maintained by Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
It has come into being by merging seven previously differently numbered national highways in full or part starting from former NH 1A from Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir, former NH 1 in Punjab and Haryana ending at Delhi, part of former NH 2 starting from Delhi and ending at Agra, former NH 3 (popularly known as Agra-Bombay highway) from Agra to Gwalior, former NH 75 and former NH 26 to Jhansi, and finally former NH 7 via Nagpur, and Adilabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Hyderabad, Kurnool and Mahbubnagar, Anantapur, and Bangalore, Dharmapuri, Salem, Karur, Madurai and Tirunelveli terminating at Kanyakumari.