Indian Roadways

Indian Roadways With a network of over 3.3 million km, India has the third largest road network in the world, In India, the Nagpur Plan for Road Development (1944­54) for the first time gave a four-fold classification of roads-national highways, state highways, district roads and rural roads.

National Highways are highways which run through the length and breadth of the country and connect state capitals, port towns, industrial and mining areas and cities and towns of national importance., The national highways are maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

State Highways are the main arteries of commerce and passenger transport within a state. These highways connect practically every town in the state with its capital. all district headquarters, important areas within states and all these areas with the national highways. Construction and main­tenance of state highways is the responsibility of state governments.

District Roads are the roads which connect towns and large villages with one another and with district headquar­ters. These are mostly unsurfaced and lack bridges and culverts. Their development and maintenance is the respon­sibility of the zila parishads, and the respective public works departments.

Rural Roads roads link villages with district roads. They are mostly unsurfaced, narrow and zig-zag tracks unsuit­able for heavy mechanised traffic and are usable only during fair weather.

Besides these four, there are three other types-border roads, international highways and express highways.

The Border Road Development Board was set up in 1960 to speed up economic development in the underde­veloped border areas which are densely forested, moun­tainous and desert areas. Another objective was to maintain essential supplies for defence personnel. The Border Roads Organisation (BRa) is the executive wing which is respon­sible for construction and maintenance of roads in hilly areas of the Himalayas and the north-east and in desert areas of Rajasthan. Now the BRa is also involved in construction of ports and helipads.

International Highways are the highways which have been constructed with aid from the World Bank. under an agreement with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP). Their purpose is to link India's im­portant roads with those of the neighbouring countries, viz., Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Express Highways have been built for fast movement of traffic in the country. There are five sllch highways­

(i) western express highway,
(ii) eastern express highway,
(iii) highway between Kolkata and Dum Durn airport,
(iv) highway between Sukinda mines and Paradip port in Orissa,
(v) express highway between Durgapur and Kolkata.

Many of the major road routes have existed since ancient times. India inherited a poor road network after independence. Unlike the railways, an inland network was developed first and then there was an outward movement (towards the ports) of the road network.

The first five states with the highest density of surfaced roads in India are Goa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Haryana, in that order. Overall, the Punjab-Haryana plains, the Ganga plains, the Karnataka plateau, the Tamil Nadu plains and Kerala have a high density while the Deccan region has a moderate density of road network. Low density of roads exists in the Himalayan region, in the north-eastern region which is hilly and forested and in the desert areas of Rajasthan. Thus the major limiting factors, as far as road network density is considered, are difficult terrain which makes development of roads costly in these areas, a sparse population and low levels of economic development which are not capable of generating enough ttaffic.