Road transport in India

Road Transport in India

India’s road network is one of the largest in the world. The total length of roads is more than 33 lakh km.

For the purpose of maintenance and construction, roads are classified into National Highways, State Highways, District Highways, Village Roads, Border Roads, etc.

National highways are maintained by the Central Government, State highways by the respective state government while District highways by the respective District Board. Border roads and International highways are also die responsibility of Central Government.

The present length of the National Highways in India is approx. 45,000 km. They constitute only 2% of the total road length and carries nearly 40% of the road traffic.

Some of the Important National Highways are:

NH 1: New Delhi - Ambala - Jalandhar - Amritsar.

NH 2: Delhi - Mathura - Agara - Kanpur - Allahabad - Varanasi - Kolkata.

NH 3: Agra - Gwalior - Nasik - Mumbai.

NH 4: Thane and Chennai via Pune and Belgaun.

NH 5: Kolkata - Chennai.

NH 6: Kolkata - Dhule.

NH 7: Varanasi - Kanyakumari.

NH 8: Delhi - Mumbai (via Jaipur, Baroda and Ahmedabad)

NH 9: Mumbai - Vijaywada.

NH 10: Delhi - Fazilka.

NH 11: Agra - Bikaner.

NH 12: Jabalpur - Jaipur.

NH 24: Delhi - Lucknow.

NH 27: Allahabad - Varanasi.

NH 28: Barauni - Lucknow.

NH 29: Gorakhpur - Varanasi.

NH 56: Lucknow - Varanasi.

NH - 7 is the longest highway of India..

Note:

The Golden Quadrilateral Project connecting the four Metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata covering a total distance of 5846 km is currently being processed. It is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP). Total cost of the project is Rs 300 billion, funded largely by the government’s special petroleum product tax revenues and government borrowing. As of June ’08, 5669 km of the intended road has been 4-laned.

The North South - East West Corridor (NS-EW) is the largest ongoing expressway project in India. It is the second phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), and consists of building 7300 kilometers of four/six lane expressways connecting Srinagar, Kanyakumari, Porbandar and Silchar. The final completion date of the project has been set as December 2009.

Maharashtra has the maximum length of surfaced roads in India.

Air Transport in India

J.R.D. Tata was the first person to make a solo flight from Mumbai to Karachi in 1931.

1. In 1935, the ‘Tata Air Lines’ started its operation between Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram and in 1937 between Mumbai and Delhi..
2. In 1953, all the private Airline companies were nationalised and Indian Airlines and Air India came into existence..
3. Air India administers international flights while Indian Airlines caters to the domestic circuit..
4. Indian Airlines is now known by the name of ‘Indian’..
5. Vayudoot Limited started in 1981 as a private air carrier and later on it merged with Indian Airlines..
6. Pawan Hans Limited operates helicopter support services to oil sector, hill stations and remote areas..
7. A number of private airlines also operates is India. They are Jet Airways, Sahara, etc..
8. The Civil Aviation Centre in Fursatgarh near Allahabad provided, among other things, ground training to the pilots..