Transport in India & Road Transport

Transport in India

The present transport system of the country comprises several modes of trans-port including rail, road, coastal shipping, air transport etc.

Road Transport

» The total road length of the country increased from 3.99 lakh kms on 31st March, 1951 to 48.65 lakh kms as on 31st March, 2012, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.2%. About 60% freight traffic and 87.4% passenger traffic is carried by the roads.
» At present Indian road network of 48.85 lakh km. is the one of the largest in the world and consists of—
      National Highways → 92,851 km
      State Highways → 1,42,687 km
      Major District Roads, Rural and other roads → 46,49,462 km
      Total Lenght → 41 Lakh km (Approx)

National Highways

» They are constructed and maintained by the central government.
» The National Highways has 79,116 km. length comprising only 2% of the total length of roads, carries about 40% of the total traffic of India.
» The development and maintenance of the National Highways system is carried out through three agencies— 1. National Highways Authority of India (NHAl), 2. State Public Works Departments (PWDs) and 3. Border Roads Organisation (BRO). In order to give boost to the economic development of the country, the government has embarked upon a massive National Highways Development Project (NHDP) in the country.
» The NHDP is the largest highway project ever undertaken in the country.
» The NHDP is being implemented mainly by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
» As on 31st March, 2012 around 99.1% of SHs (State Highways) was surfaced. The State /UT-wise break-up SHs shows that Maharashtra accounted for the largest share (19.8%) as on 31st March, 2012, followed by Karnataka (12.6%), Gujarat (11.2%), Tamil Nadu (6.6%) and Andhra Pradesh (6.5%). These five states accounted for about 56.7% of the total length of SHs.

Some Important National Highways (As on 23 June, 2012)

N.H. 1	Delhi - Ambala - Amritsar - Indo-Pak Border (456 km)
N.H. 2	Delhi - Agra - Kanpur - Varanasi - Kolkata (1,465 km)
N.H. 4	Junction with N.H. 3 near Thane - Belgaum - Bangaluru - Ranipet - Chennai (1,235 km)
N.H. 7	Varanasi - Jabalpur - Nagpur - Hyderabad - Bangaluru - Madurai - Kanyakumari (2,369 km).
N.H. 8	Delhi- Jaipur - Ahmedabad- Vadodara - Mumbai (1,375 km)
N.H. 9	Pune - Solapur - Hyderabad - Vijayawada-Machhilipatnam (841 km)
N.H. 15	Pathankot - Amritsar - Bhatinda - Ganganagar - Bikaner - Jaisalmer - Barmer- Samakhiali (1,526 km)
N.H. 22	Ambala - Kalka - Shimla - Rampur - Indo-Tibet (China) Border near Shipki-La (459 km)
N.H. 24	Delhi - Bareilly - Lucknow (438 km)
N.H. 39	Numaligarh- Imphal - Palel - Indo - Myanmar Border (436 km)
N.H. 44	Nongstoin and connecting Shillong-Passi Badarpur-Agartala-Sabroom (723 km)
N.H. 47	Salem - Coimbatore - Trichur-Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram - Cape Commorin-Kanyakumari (640 km)
N.H. 48	Bangaluru - Hassan - Mangaluru (328 km)
N.H. 49	Kochi - Madurai - Dhanushkodi (440 km)
N.H. 55	Siliguri - Darjeeling (77 km)
N.H. 80	Mokamah - Raj Mahal-Farakka (310 km)
N.H. 102	Chhapra - Rewaghat-Muzaffarpur (80 km)
N.H. 205	Ananthpur - Renugunta-Chennai (442 km.)
N.H. 217	Raipur (Chhattisgarh)-Gopalpur (0disha)-(508 km)
N. H. 220	Tawang-Bomdila-Ziro-Aalong-Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) (1,090 km)
N.H. 947	Sarkhej-Virumgaon-Jamnagar-Dwarka-Okha (461 km)

» The longest National Highway in India is NH-7 (from Varanasi to Kanyakumari ); which has a length of 128 kms in Uttar Pradesh, 504 kms in Madhya Pradesh, 232 kms in Maharashtra, 753 kms in Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), 125 kms in Karnataka, 627 kms in Tamil Nadu i.e. total 2,369 kms.

State Highways and other Roads

They are constructed and maintained by the state government.
As on 31st March, 2012 —
    ★ Average road density of India—148 km per 100 sq. kms.
    ★ Average road length per lakh population (census 2011)—402.03 kms.
    ★ The length of NHs per 100 sq. kms of area—2.34 kms and the length of NHs per lakh population—6.35 kms.
    ★ U.P. has the largest share (10.2%) of the total length of NHs, followed by Rajasthan (9.3%), M.P. (6.6%), Tamil Nadu (6.4%) and Rajasthan (5.9%). These five states accounted for about 38.4% of the total road length of NHs.

» Roads on the borders are constructed and maintained by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
» BRO was established in May 1960.
» BRO is a premier construction agency roads airfields, bridges, buildings, hos-pitals and schools.
» The BRO, through 'Project Dantak' is constructing and maintaining a large road infrastructure and executing other prestigious projects in Bhutan.
» The BRO is doing highly commendable jobs of construction and maintenance in Myanmar and Afghanistan too.