A road trip is always fantastic in India with family and friends. Check out the top 10 unknown facts about the Indian National Highway system in this article.
Driving at high speed on a smooth Indian National Highway is always fun. It always adds some memories to life. There are many Dhaba and restaurant side by Indian National Highway, which make a more romantic and memorable road trip. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) are the nodal agencies responsible for building, upgrading, and maintaining most of the National Highways network.
The National Highways Authority of India was established by the National Highways Authority of India Act 1988. National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited started functioning w.e.f. 18 July 2014.
List of 14 Unknown Facts About the Indian National Highway System
1. The longest national highway in India is NH 44(previously NH7), which is 4,112 km long. The highway starts from Jammu and Kashmir and ends at Kanyakumari. It passes states like Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, and ends in Tamil Nadu.
2. The shortest national highway in India is NH 966 B, previously known as NH 47A. It is the shortest national highway in India which covers the distance of 8 km between Kundanoor and Willingdon Island in Kochi, Kerala.
3. National Highways constituted 3.5% of India’s total road network but carried about 45% of road traffic.
4. The total length of the National Highway in India is 1,70,650 km till June 2023.
5. State-wise, Maharashtra has the maximum length of National Highway in India of 18776 km.
6. India has the second largest road network in the world, which comprises 40% of national highways.
7. On average, every day, 12 km of Indian National Highway are built.
8. State-wise, Goa has the minimum length of National Highway in India of 295 km.
9. Union Territory wise, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has the maximum length of National Highway in India of 335 km.
10. Union Territory-wise, Lakshadweep has the minimum length of National Highway in India of 0 km.
11. World’s second-highest motorable highway is the Leh-Manali highway which connects Shimla to Leh in Ladakh. It is the world’s second-highest motorable highway.
12. The National Highways Authority of India is responsible for building and maintenance of the national highway network.
13. Yellow and white colour milestones on the road proved that it was a National Highway.
14. Liquor shops and bars are not allowed to run along any Indian National Highway.
State-wise length of Indian National Highway
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 331 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 7340 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 2537 |
| Assam | 3936 |
| Bihar | 5421 |
| Chandigarh | 15 |
| Chhattisgarh | 3620 |
| Delhi | 157 |
| Goa | 299 |
| Gujarat | 7744 |
| Haryana | 3237 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 2607 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 2423 |
| Jharkhand | 3367 |
| Karnataka | 7412 |
| Kerala | 1782 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 8941 |
| Maharashtra | 17931 |
| Manipur | 1750 |
| Meghalaya | 1156 |
| Mizoram | 1423 |
| Nagaland | 1548 |
| Odisha | 5897 |
| Puducherry | 64 |
| Punjab | 4099 |
| Rajasthan | 10350 |
| Sikkim | 709 |
| Tamil Nadu | 6858 |
| Telangana | 3974 |
| Tripura | 854 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 11831 |
| Uttarakhand | 3106 |
| West Bengal | 3665 |
Top 10 Longest Indian National Highway
| S.No | Longest National Highways in India 2023 | Distance (in km) | Start Point and End Point |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NH 44(Old NH 7) | 3,745 | Srinagar to Kanyakumari |
| 2 | NH 27 | 3,507 | Porbandar in Gujarat to Silchar in Assam |
| 3 | NH 48(Old NH 8) | 2,807 | Delhi to Chennai |
| 4 | NH 52 | 2,317 | Sangrur, Punjab to Ankola, Karnataka |
| 5 | NH 30(Old NH 221) | 2,040 | Sitarganj in Uttarakhand to Ibrahimpatnam in Andhra Pradesh. |
| 6 | NH 6 | 1,873 | Jorabat in Meghalaya and terminatesat Selling in Mizoram |
| 7 | NH 53 | 1,781 | Hajira in Gujarat andPradip port in Odisha |
| 8 | NH 16(Old NH 5) | 1,711 | East coast of West Bengalto Chennai in Tamil Nadu |
| 9 | NH 66(Old NH 17) | 1,622 | Panvel and terminatesat Kanyakumari |
| 10 | NH 19(Old NH 20) | 1,435 | Delhi to Kolkata |
How Indian National Highway Are Named?
- North-South highways will carry even numbers.
- East-West highways will carry odd numbers.
- Single-digit or double-digit numbers will be given to all major highways.
- North-South highways will increase from east to west in number.
- Three-digit numbers high waves are secondary roots of the main highway.
- Suffixes like A, B, C, or D are added to 3-digit sub-highways to indicate small spin-off stretches of sub-highways.
Keep visiting The Ganga Times for such beautiful articles. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Koo for regular updates.