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Road
Infrastructure
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There are roads, and there are
roads, and, are there roads? What is a road in the Indian context?
Stretches of broken concrete interlaced with potholes, the less said about
them the better.
Roads maybe classified
into
National Highways
State
Highways
Major District Roads and
Other Roads (urban, village and Panchayat
roads)
India has one of the largest highway and road
networks on the planet, second only to the road network of the United
States. The total length of roads in the country exceeds 3.01 million
kilometers. This labyrinthine network consists of 34,608 km of national
highways, 128,622 km of state highways, and an informal network running to
an astounding2, 737,080 km.
The roadworthiness of India's growing
vehicle population depends to a large extent on the quality of India's 2.2
million-km road network. Poor road surface causes tyres and other
components to wear out faster and there is increased fuel consumption on
account of congestion and traffic snarls.
The scheme announced by
the Government in 1995 was a much-needed step and recognized the
importance of a proper road network. In it, Rs.200 crore was allocated as
Commencement Capital to the National Highway Authority of India to enable
it to construct subways, bridges etc.
During the last week of
October 1998, the Ministry of Surface Transport announced its ambitious
plan to link Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Silcher to Saurashtra. This
unprecedented 7,000 km, four-lane expressway project is expected to cost a
whopping Rs.28,000 crores. The national highways are estimated to carry 40
per cent of the total road traffic but account for only 2 per cent of the
total network.
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