The Golden Quadrilateral is a national highway network connecting several major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India. It forms a quadrilateral with all the four major metro cities of India forming the vertices, viz., Delhi (north), Kolkata (east), Mumbai (west) and Chennai (south). Other major cities connected by this network include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Balasore, Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Durgapur, Faridabad, Guntur, Gurugram, Jaipur, Kanpur, Pune, Kolhapur, Surat, Vijayawada, Eluru, Ajmer, Visakhapatnam, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Agra, Mathura, Dhanbad, Gandhinagar, Udaipur, and Vadodara. The main objective of these super highways is to reduce the travel time between the major cities of India, running roughly along the perimeter of the country. The North–South corridor linking Srinagar and Kanyakumari, and East–West corridor linking Silchar (Assam) and Porbandar (Gujarat) are additional projects. These highway projects are implemented by the National Highway Authority Of India (NHAI). At 5,846 kilometres (3,633 mi), it is the largest highway project in India and the fifth longest in the world. It is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), and consists of two, four, and six-lane express highways, built at a cost of ₹600 billion (US$7.5 billion). The project was planned in 1999, launched in 2001, and was completed in July 2013.
The National highways in India are a network of trunk roads owned by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. National highways have flyover access or some controlled-access, where entrance and exit is through the side of the flyover, at each intersection of highways flyovers are provided to bypass the city/town/village traffic and these highways are designed for speed of 100 km/h. Some national highways have interchanges in between, but do not have total controlled-access throughout the highways. It is constructed and managed by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), and the public works departments (PWD) of state governments. Currently, the longest National Highway in India is National Highway 44 at 4,112 km. India started four laning of major national highways with National Highway Development Project (NHDP). As of March 2022 India have approximately 35,000 km of four laned National highways.
The National Highways Authority of India or NHAI is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1995 and is responsible for management of a road network of over 50,000 km of National Highways out of 1,32,499 km in India. It is a nodal agency of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). NHAI has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for satellite mapping of highways.
Roads in India are an important mode of transport in India. India has a network of over 6,331,791 kilometres (3,934,393 mi) of roads as of 31 December 2022. This is the second-largest road network in the world, after the United States. At of roads per square kilometre of land, the quantitative density of India's road network is equal to that of Hong Kong, and substantially higher than the United States, China, Brazil and Russia. Adjusted for its large population, India has approximately 5.13 kilometres (3.19 mi) of roads per 1,000 people, which is much lower than United States 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi) but higher than that of China 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi). India's road network carries over 71% of its freight and about 85% of passenger traffic.
The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) was a project of four laning of existing national highways and six laning of selected major national highways of India. The project was started in 1998 under the leadership of Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. National Highways account for only about 2% of the total length of roads, but carry about 40% of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country. This project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The NHDP represents 49,260 km of roads and highways work and construction in order to boost economic development of the country. The government has planned to end the NHDP program in early 2018 and subsume the ongoing projects under a larger Bharatmala project.
On 28 April 2010, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways officially notified the rationalized number system of the national highway network in the Gazette of the Government of India. It is a systematic numbering scheme based on the orientation and the geographic location of the highway. This was adopted to ensure more flexibility and consistency in the numbering of existing and new national highways. According to the system all north–south oriented highway will have even numbers increasing from the east to the west. Similarly all east–west oriented highways will be odd numbered increasing from the north to the south of the country.
Kerala, a state in Southern India, has a network of 11 National Highways, 72 State Highways and many district roads.
National Highway 67 is a major National Highway in India. It starts at Ramnagar on NH 748, Belagavi - Panjim Road of Karnataka and ends at Krishnapatnam Port road in Andhra Pradesh.
National Highway 44 is a major north–south National Highway in India and is the longest in the country.
Old National Highway 2 or Old NH 2, was a major National Highway in India, that connected the states of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. It constitutes a major portion of the historical Grand Trunk Road along with old NH 91 and old NH 1 in India. The highway connects national capital Delhi with Kolkata as well as important cities such as Faridabad, Mathura, Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Dhanbad, Asansol, Durgapur and Bardhaman.
Mangalore's location in the Indian state of Karnataka makes it accessible by all forms of transport: road, rail, air and sea. It is the largest city in the Coastal Karnataka region, and is the only city in Karnataka and one among the six cities in India to have an International Airport, a Major Seaport, railway & road connectivities. It is the second prominent city of Karnataka after the state capital Bangalore in all aspects. It is one of the fastest developing cities in India.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is a ministry of the Government of India, that is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules, regulations and laws relating to road transport, transport research and in also to increase the mobility and efficiency of the road transport system in India. Through its officers of Central Engineering Services (Roads) cadre it is responsible for the development of National Highways of the country. Road transport is a critical infrastructure for economic development of the country. It influences the pace, structure and pattern of development. In India, roads are used to transport over 60 percent of the total goods and 85 percent of the passenger traffic. Hence, development of this sector is of paramount importance for India and accounts for a significant part in the budget.
The Bangalore–Chennai Expressway, or National Expressway 7 (NE-7), is an under construction 258 km (160 mi) long, 4-lane wide access-controlled expressway between the cities of Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka and Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu. It will run from Hoskote in Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority to Sriperumbudur in Chennai Metropolitan Area. It is planned to allow vehicles to reach 120 km/h (75 mph). This expressway was designated as a National Expressway on 1 January 2021. The total project value is ₹ 17,930 crore. It will be completed by March 2024.
The Diamond Quadrilateral is a project of the Indian Railways to establish a high-speed rail network in India. The Diamond Quadrilateral will connect the four mega cities of India, viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, similar to the Golden Quadrilateral highway system.
National Highway 73 is a National Highway in India. This highway runs in the Indian state of Karnataka. It starts from sea port city of Mangaluru ( Mangalore) and ends at Tumakuru. Even though named as national highway the road is narrow and prone to landslips and falling of trees in Charmady ghat section of Western ghats. This highway was previously part of national highways 48, 234 and 206 but subsequent to rationalisation of national highway numbers of India by Gazette notification on 5 March 2010 it was changed to National Highway 73.
National Highway 66, commonly referred to as NH 66, is a mostly 4 lane 1,608 km (999 mi) long busy National Highway that runs roughly north–south along the western coast of India, parallel to the Western Ghats. It connects Panvel to Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari), passing through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
National Highway 117 is a national highway in India. This route was earlier part of old national highway 31. It is a secondary route of National Highway 17. NH-117 runs through the state of Assam in India.
National Highway 361, commonly called NH 361, is a national highway in India that runs entirely within the state of Maharashtra. Its western terminal is in Tuljapur near the intersection of NH 52 and the eastern terminal is in Butibori near Nagpur at the intersection of NH 44. The total length of the highway NH-361 is 548 km. It is a spur road of National Highway 61.
National Highway 344A, commonly called NH 344A is a national highway in India. It is a spur road of National Highway 44. NH-344A traverses the state of Punjab in India.
National Highway 179A, commonly referred to as NH 179A, is a national highway in India, which comes under Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India. It is a secondary route of National Highway 79. NH-179A traverses the state of Tamil Nadu in India.
