The network of National Highways in India runs into more than 70,000 kilometers (as of 2010) and links most of the major and minor cities of the country. These highways also include more than 1000 kilometers of limited access Expressways.
Operating under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, NHAI or National Highways Authority of India is the nodal agency which looks after most of the highways of the country. It takes up the role of building, maintaining and even managing these highways, under its responsibility. It was incorporated by the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988 and became functional in Feb, 1995.
Indian National Highways account for almost 2% of all the roads of India and are found in different specifications. While most of the highways are of 2 lanes (one in each direction), there are also 4 lanes and 8 lanes highways in India. Most of these 4 lanes and 8 lanes highways connect the major cities. The significance of these highways reflects in the fact that they carry 40% of the total traffic of the country.
Indian National Highways are divided on the basis of the state and are offered a rationalized number system to easily distinguish between each. As per the current data, National Highway 7 (also referred to as NH 7) is the longest highway of India with more than 4,500 kilometers. It connects Varanasi with Kanyakumari. The shortest, on the other hand, is NH 47A and it connects Kandanoor Junction with Maradu, Kochi.
|NH 1||New Delhi-Ambala- Jalandhar –Amritsar|
|NH 2||Delhi -Mathua -Agra-Kanpur –Allahabad –Varanadi –Kolkata|
|NH 3||Agra-Gwalior -Nasik-Mumbai|
|NH 4||Thand 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|