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Natural beauty can be truly felt on the blue sky and the open road. Most of the memorable moments of our lives are lived during road trips. Walking by bike or car on open roads, it seems that we are flying in the open sky. Hair blowing in the strong wind under the open sky makes us feel our freedom. All these experiences can be found on the highways of India.
You must have also travelled on Indian highways, but do you know about the necessary information related to them. Many times, highways become an important part of our journey and today I am going to tell you some important things about Indian highways through this article.
The elevated highways are constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The Authority also finances the maintenance of highways. The Indian National Highway was commissioned by the former Honorable Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpai and is under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The National Highway Development Project (NHDP), launched under the chairmanship of Atal Bihari Bajpayee, is India’s largest highway project with the objective of proper maintenance and upgrading of highways. Do you know that these highways constitute only 1.8% of Indian roads but with the help of these, 40% of the road traffic in the country reduces traffic?
Let us know interesting facts about India’s highways.
Overall length
Currently, the total length of Indian highways bound by expressways, rural and district roads is about 142,126 kilometres which consist of 1000 km – Expressways, 79,243 km – National Highways, 1,31,899 km – State Highways and Other major district and rural roads.
Longest Highway
National Highway Network of India is complex connectivity of majestic wide highways connecting many cities, towns, districts and even villages. NH 44, running from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir to the far south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, is the longest national highway in India with a total distance of 3,745 km. From this highway, Kashmir to Kanyakumari can be reached through various landscapes.
Shortest highway
NH 118 and NH 548 are the shortest national highways in the country. NH 118, a mere 5 km long highway, connects the towns of Asanbani and Jamshedpur in the former Jharkhand state. While NH 548 is about 5 km long highway of Maharashtra state. This is actually NH 48 inspired road.
The total number of highways
India’s highway is the second largest road network in the world. There are more than 200 national highways in this country. The total length of the Indian road network is 1,31,899 km with a cumulative length of approximately 101,011 km.
Longest Sangam Interchange
The amazing Indian road network also includes the Cloverleaf Interchange. The longest of all Cloverleaf interchanges is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Cloverleaf in Kathipara Junction or Kathipara is the longest Cloverleaf interchange in the country and has also been recorded as the largest Cloverleaf flyover in Asia.
Highest elevation highway
On the rugged Himalayan sloping hills, the Indian road network’s sheer tracks help us stay connected to mountain towns and cities. The Leh-Manali Highway is the highest altitude motor highway that connects Shimla city of Himachal Pradesh to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir. This motorable highway is also the second-highest altitude motor highway in the world.
Milestones
While travelling by road, you must have seen the different coloured milestones falling on the highways. The Indian highway has three different coloured milestones. There is a yellow and white colour code for national highways, green and white for state highways, and finally black and white for city highways. These small milestones indicating the number of miles make your journey easier.
Total number of highways
The primary highways of the Indian highway road network are counted in double digits. Highways running from north to south are given pairwise (even) numbers. On the other side, highways running east to west are given odd numbers. In addition, all highways with a three-digit number are branches, which connect to the primary two-digit highway.
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