India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregating to about 2.3 million km at present. Roadways in India have preceded railways. They still have an edge over railways in view of the ease with which they can be built and maintained. Let us learn more about roads in India.

The growing importance of road transport vis-�-vis rail transport is rooted in the following reasons;

(a) the construction cost of roads is much lower than that of railway lines,
(b) roads can traverse comparatively more dissected and undulating topography,
(c) roads can negotiate higher gradients of slopes and as such can traverse mountains such as The Himalayas,
(d) road transport is economical in the transportation of few persons and relatively a smaller amount of goods over short distances,
(e) it also provides door-to-door service, thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower,
(f) road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transport such as they provide a link between railway stations, air, and seaports.

Roadways in India are classified into the following six classes according to their capacity.

Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways: The government has launched a major road development project linking Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai and Delhi by six-lane

Super Highways. The North-South corridors linking Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), and East-West Corridor connecting Silcher (Assam) and Porbander (Gujarat) is part of this project.

The major objective of these Super Highways is to reduce the time and distance between the megacities of India. These highway projects are being implemented by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

National Highways: National Highways link extreme parts of the country. These are the primary road systems and are laid and maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). A number of major National Highways run in North-South and East-West directions. The historical Sher- Shah Suri Marg is called National Highway No.1, between Delhi and Amritsar.

State Highways: Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as State Highways. These roads are constructed and maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD) in State and Union Territories.

� District Roads: These roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district. These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.
� Other Roads: Rural roads, which link rural areas and villages with towns, are classified under this category. These roads received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.

Under this scheme, special provisions are made so that every village in the country is linked to a major town in the country by an all-season motorable road.

Border Roads: Apart from these, the Border Roads Organisation a Government of India undertaking constructs and maintains roads in the bordering areas of the country.

This organization was established in 1960 for the development of roads of strategic importance in the northern and north-eastern border areas. These roads have improved accessibility in areas of difficult terrain and have helped in the economic development of these areas

Roads can also be classified on the basis of the type of material used for their construction such as metalled and unmetalled roads.

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.

Road Density: The length of road per 100 sq. km of area is known as the density of roads. The distribution of the road is not uniform in the country. The density of all roads varies from only 10 km in Jammu & Kashmir to 375 km in Kerala with a national average of 75 km (1996-97).

Road transportation in India faces a number of problems. Keeping in view the volume of traffic and passengers, the road network is inadequate. About half of the roadways in India are unmetalled and this limits their usage during the rainy season. The National Highways are inadequate too. Moreover, the roadways are highly congested in cities and most of the bridges and culverts are old and narrow.

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