National Highways of India

The national highways network of India is a network of trunk roads that is managed and maintained by agencies of the Government of India. These highways measured over 115,435 km (71,728 mi) as of June 2017. Indian government led by PM Modi has declared to double the highway length from 96,000 to 2,00,000 km in its 5-year term and declared 1,65,000 km as national highways in December 2016.

As of Jun 2017, 23 km per day has been achieved which is unprecedented in Indian History.

In India, National Highways are at-grade roads whereas Express Highways, commonly known as Expressways, are controlled-access highways, mostly 6-lane or above, where entrance and exit is controlled by the use of slip roads (ramps) that are incorporated into the design of the highway. The at-grade national highways do not have shoulder lanes. The speed on national highway is mostly unregulated and is mostly slowed by heavy trucks in middle lanes. The highways are also used by pedestrians and cyclists creating dangerous situations.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the nodal agency responsible for building, upgrading and maintaining most of the national highways network. It operates under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) is a major effort to expand and upgrade the network of highways. NHAI often uses a public-private partnership model for highway development, maintenance and toll-collection.

While national highways constitute 1.8% of Indian roads, they carry 40% of the traffic. The majority of existing national highways are two-lane roads (one lane in each direction), though much of this is being expanded to four-lanes, and some to six or more lanes. Some sections of the network are toll roads. Over 30,000 km (19,000 mi) of new highways are planned or under construction as part of the NHDP, as of 2011. This includes over 2,600 km (1,600 mi) of expressways under construction.

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