Road Transport in India – Old Year Questions

• India has about 66.71 lakh km of road network, including 1,46,145 km of National Highways, 1,79,535 km of State Highways, and 63,45,403 km of other roads in 2023, making it the second largest road network in the world.
• Now roads are responsible for 67% of freight and 90% of passenger traffic.
• When the question was asked, it was around 80%.

• When the question was asked, India had 64 national highways that were 40,000 kilometers long.
• As of March 31st, 2019, the number of national highways has increased to 599 and the total length is now 132500 kilometers.

• Previously popularised as NH 7 and later renumbered as NH 44, covering 12 states and 1 union territory.
• It covers a length of 3,745 kilometres.

• When the inquiry was made, NH 4 was a 1,235 km long route that went through Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.

• The first pair of cities, Mumbai and Chennai, is connected by the National Highway 4.
• However, Hyderabad is not on the way.
• The second pair of cities, Hazira and Kolkata, is connected by the National Highway 6.
• Mumbai is not on the way here either.
• The third pair, Samakhiali and Pathankot, is connected by the National Highway 15 but Ahmedabad and Jodhpur are not on its path. Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

• Back in the day, Uttar Pradesh had the longest National Highway in India, with 8487 kilometers.
• Now, as of March 31, 2019, Maharashtra has the longest National Highway, with 17,757 km.
• Uttar Pradesh is now in second place with 11,737 km.

• According to ‘Basic Road Statistics – 2013’, the scenario of the total length of state highways in mentioned states till 31, March is as follows :
  • State Total length (in km) of state highways (2012-13) (2017-18)
  • Maharashtra – 38765 38,999
  • Gujarat – 18506 17,201
  • Rajasthan – 10465 15,085
  • Uttar Pradesh – 7703 7201
• Note: As per the new report Maharashtra has the highest share in the total length of State Highways, followed by Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan & Andhra Pradesh.

• Maharashtra has the longest state highway system in India, covering 32,005 kilometers (km), which is around 18% of India’s total state highway length of 1.79 lakh km.

• The Golden Quadrilateral Project is about connecting four major cities in the country with a highway.

• The Golden Quadrilateral is a highway system that links four of the biggest cities in India – Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai.
• It connects these cities and the industrial and cultural centers of the country.

• The Golden Quadrilateral project was initiated in 2001 to connect India’s four major cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
• It is a National Highway that is 5846 km long.

• The Prime Minister of India Connectivity Project is an ambitious plan from the Indian government to develop roads.
• This plan will link tourist locations and economically important locations through corridors built on the Build, Operate, Transfer principle.

• The East-West Corridor connects Silchar and Porbandar, while the North-South Corridor links Srinagar and Kanyakumari.
• These two corridors meet at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, which is why it is seen as the intersection of the North-South and East-West Corridors.

• The Golden Quadrilateral links Silchar and Porbandar cities.
• It is 3,300 km in length and connects the east and west parts of India.

• Jhansi is the city where the North-South and East-West Corridors intersect.
• The North-South–East-West Corridor (NS-EW) is the biggest highway project in India that

• The North-South corridor is a big highway project happening in India.
• It is part of the National Highway Development Project (NHDP).
• The correct route from north to south is Agra, Gwalior, Nagpur and Krishnagiri, so option (a) is the right answer.

• The North-South Corridor includes major cities such as Srinagar, Udhampur, Jammu, Jalandhar, Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, Jhansi, Narsinghpur, Lakhnadon, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Salem, Madurai, Kanyakumari.

• The Mumbai Pune Expressway is India’s first expressway with six lanes of concrete and it is controlled and has a toll.
• It is 94.5 kilometres long and connects Mumbai and Pune.
• The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation built it for 16.3 billion (US 362 million).
• The first section opened in 2000 and the rest was finished in 2002.
• There are five tunnels on the expressway that have lights and ventilation, which were built by the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd.

• NH3 is an important Indian National Highway that goes through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
• Cities along the NH3 include Shivpuri, Guna, Biaora, Maksi, Dewas, Indore, Julwania, Dhule, Nashik and Thane.
• NH3 covers a total distance of 1161 km, but does not go through Bhopal.

• The Prime Minister’s Village Road Scheme was launched on December 25th, 2000.
• It is a government-funded program to build roads in rural areas that do not have access to all-weather roads.

• According to ‘Basic Road Statistics – 2012.’

States  Length of surface roads per 100 km2

• India has a road network of over 62,15,797 km. as on 31st March, 2018 the second largest road network in the world.

State                           Length of Roads

     Maharashtra                            6,26,491

     Uttar Pradesh                          4,25,420

     Madhya Pradesh                      3,59,022

     Rajasthan                                   3,13,390

• When asked, 40-45% of all transport needs are met by National Highways.
• Maharashtra has the most roads and the longest National Highway (now known as NH-27 EW) in the country.

• None of the National Highways, given in the options passes through Amritsar to Kolkata via Delhi. The route of all the highways (old) are given below –
  • NH 1 – Delhi, Ambala, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Indo-Pak Border.
  • NH 2- Delhi, Mathura, Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Mohania, Barhi, Barthaman, Kolkata.
  • NH 4 – Thane, Pune, Belgaum, Hubli, Bangalore, Ranipettai, Chennai.
  • NH 8 – Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai.

• As of March 31, 2019, India’s roads total around 6.386 million km, making it the second longest road network in the world.
• These roads are built and maintained by the Public Works Department and the National Highways Authority of India.
• The national highways network is only 2.13% of the total road length, but it carries about 40-45% of the total road traffic.

• NH 3 (previously known as Old Number) is the longest highway in Madhya Pradesh with a length of 712 km.
• In total, it is 1161 km long.

• The National Highways Development Project links four major cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata – and is 5,846 km long.
• The North-South and East-West routes stretch from Srinagar in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, and from Silchar in the east to Porbandar in the west, passing through Salem, Coimbatore and Kochi. This means that statements 2 and

• National Highway (Old Number) routes mentioned in the question and their length is given below :
  National Highway Number Length (in km)
  • • • • Agra- Mumbai (3) 1161
        • Chennai-Thane (4) 1235
        • Kolkata-Hazira (6) 1949
        • Pune – Machilipatnam (9) 841

• The National Waterway (NW1) has been extended from Haldia to Allahabad (Prayagraj).
• The highway between Nasik and Pune, formerly known as NH-50, is now called NH-60.
• The expressway between Durgapur and Kolkata is now known as NH-19GQ and NH-44NS, which replaced the old NH-2.
• The South Central Railway headquarters is located in Secunderabad, not correctly matched.

• The descending order of the length of National Highways in the above states is as follows :
  (State)                            (Length of National Highways)
  (in km)                                        (As of 31.3.2019)
  Arunachal Pradesh                           2537
  Nagaland                                            1548
  Mizoram                                             1423
  Sikkim                                                 463

• The Jawahar Tunnel or Banihal Tunnel is a road tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir that is maintained by the Border Road Organisation (BRO).

• The quickest way to get from Kohima to Kottayam by road requires going through seven states including Nagaland (where you start), Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, either Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, and finally Kerala (where you end).

• Kerala has the highest road density in India followed by Tripura. Kerala has a road network of 5,268.69 km per 1,000 sq km.
• Among UTs, the union territory of Chandigarh had the highest road density.