Roadways

 Means of Transportation

Land Transport
  • Pathways and unmetalled roads.
  • Metalled roads and railways.
  • Ropeways, cableways and pipelines were devised.
Roadways
  • About 56 lakh km
  • One of the second largest road networks in the world
  • After Independence, twenty-year road plan (1961) was introduced to improve the conditions of roads in India.
    • Construction cost of roads is much lower than that of railway lines,
    • Roads can traverse comparatively more dissected and undulating topography,
    • Roads can negotiate higher gradients of slopes and as such can traverse mountains such as the Himalayas,
    • Road transport is economical in transportation of few persons and relatively smaller amount of goods over short distances,
    • It also provides door-to-door service, thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower,
    • Road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transport such as they provide a link between railway stations, air and sea ports.
  • Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways:
    • 5,846-km long 4/6 lane. Delhi- Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai & Delhi by six-lane Super Highways
  • North-South Corridors
    • Linking Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu). (including Kochchi-Salem Spur) with 4,076-km long road.
  • East-West Corridor
    • Connecting Silchar (Assam) and Porbander (Gujarat) with 3,640 km.
  • Highway projects implemented by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) operationalised in 1995, autonomous body under the Ministry of Surface Transport. Apex body to improve the quality of the roads designated as National Highways
National Highway
  • Link extreme parts of the country. Inter-state transport.
  • Connect the state capitals, major cities, important ports, railway junctions, etc.
  • 19,700 km in 1951 to 101011 km in 2016
  • Laid & maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) - Central Government.
  • 2 % of the total road length but carry 40 % of the road traffic.
State Highways
  • Linking a state capital with different district headquarters.
  • Connected to the National Highways. 4 % of total road length in the country.
  • Constructed and maintained by State Public Works Department (PWD) - State Government.
District Roads
  • Connect the district headquarters. Maintained by the Zila Parishad.
  • 14 % of the total road length of the country.
Rural roads
  • Village linked to a major town, by an all season motorable road.
  • 80 % of the total road length in India.
  • There is regional variation in the density of rural road because these are influenced by the nature of the terrain.
  • Roads received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.
Border Roads
  • Border Roads Organisation (BRO) a Government of India - Border Roads and International Highways. Established in 1960.
  • Strategic importance in the northern and north-eastern border areas.
  • Roads in high altitude mountainous terrain joining Chandigarh with Manali (Himachal Pradesh) and Leh (Ladakh).
  • Average altitude of 4,270 metres above the mean sea level.
  • BRO also undertakes snow clearance in high altitude areas.
  • International highways are meant to promote the harmonious relationship with the neighbouring countries by providing effective links with India.
Bharatmala is a proposed umbrella scheme for:
  1. Development of State roads along coastal border areas, including connectivity of nonmajor ports;
  2. Backward areas religious and tourist places connectivity programme;
  3. Setubharatam Pariyojana, which is for the consruction of about 1500 major bridges and 200 rail over bridges rail under bridges; District Headquarters Connectivity Scheme for the development of about 9000 km newly declared
Basis of the type of material used
  • Metalled roads may be made of cement, concrete or even bitumen of coal, therefore, these are all weather roads
  • Unmetalled roads go out of use in the rainy season.

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