INDIA National Highway Map
INDIA National Highway Map

List of Important National Highways of India

Roads handle around 60% of freight and 87% passenger traffic in the country. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the nodal agency responsible for building, upgrading and maintaining most of the important national highways india network. It operates under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The road network in India can be broadly classified into five broad categories viz. Expressway; National Highways (NHs); State Highways (SHs); Other & rural roads. Out of this, only 1 Lakh kms comes under National Highways and 1.60 Lakh kms under state highways. Rest are ‘other’ roads. Thus, only 2% of road length in India is covered under National Highways.

On 28 April 2010, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways officially published a new numbering system for the national highway network.

How Indian Highways are numbered?

1. All North-South highways will carry EVEN number 
2. All East-West highways will have ODD numbers
3. All major Highways will be single digit or double digit in number
4. North-South highways will increase their numbers from East to West. For example, a particular North-South highway in Central India or Western India will have a higher number than the one in East India.
5. Three digit numbered highways are secondary routes or branches of a main highway. For example, 144, 244, 344 etc will be the branches of the main National highway 44.
6. Suffixes A, B, C, D etc are added to the three digit sub highways to indicate very small spin-offs or stretches of sub-highways. For example, 966A, 527B etc
List of National Highways of India sorted by highway number.

NH No States Length
1 Jammu and Kashmir 535 km (332 mi)
2 Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram 1,214 km (754 mi)
3 Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir 427 km (265 mi)
4 Andaman & Nicobar 230 km (140 mi)
5 Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh 637 km (396 mi)
6 Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram 1,873 km (1,164 mi)
7 Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand 770 km (480 mi)
8 Assam,Tripura 371 km (231 mi)
9 Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand 811 km (504 mi)
10 Sikkim, West Bengal 174 km (108 mi)
11 Rajasthan 495 km (308 mi)
12 West Bengal 612 km (380 mi)
13 Arunachal Pradesh, Assam 1,150 km (710 mi)
14 West Bengal 306 km (190 mi)
15 Assam, Arunachal Pradesh 664 km (413 mi)
16 West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu 1,659 km (1,031 mi)
17 West Bengal, Assam 477 km (296 mi)
18 Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha 359 km (223 mi)
19 Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand, West Bengal 1,435 km (892 mi)
20 Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha 658 km (409 mi)
21 Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh 262 km (163 mi)
22 Bihar, Jharkhand 416 km (258 mi)
23 Rajasthan 222 km (138 mi)
24 Uttar Pradesh 293 km (182 mi)
25 Rajasthan 353 km (219 mi)
26 Odisha, Andhra Pradesh 526 km (327 mi)
27 Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam 3,507 km (2,179 mi)
28 Uttar Pradesh 305 km (190 mi)
29 Assam, Nagaland 320 km (200 mi)
30 Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana,Andhra Pradesh 2,010 km (1,250 mi)
31 Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal 968 km (601 mi)
32 Tamil Nadu, Puducherry 314 km (195 mi)
33 Bihar, West Bengal 443 km (275 mi)
34 Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh 1,426 km (886 mi)
35 Uttar Pradesh 346 km (215 mi)
36 Tamil Nadu 334 km (208 mi)
37 Assam, Manipur 313 km (194 mi)
38 Tamil Nadu 604 km (375 mi)
39 Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand 869 km (540 mi)
40 Andhra Pradesh 420 km (260 mi)
41 Gujarat 290 km (180 mi)
42 Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu 337 km (209 mi)
43 Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand 806 km (501 mi)
44longest Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu 3,745 km (2,327 mi)
45 Madhya Pradesh 280 km (170 mi)
46 Madhya Pradesh 604 km (375 mi)
47 Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra 1,080 km (670 mi)
48 Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu 2,807 km (1,744 mi)
49 Chhattishgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal 706 km (439 mi)
50 Karnataka 544 km (338 mi)
51 Gujarat 522 km (324 mi)
52 Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka 2,317 km (1,440 mi)
53 Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Odisha 1,781 km (1,107 mi)
54 Punjab 340 km (210 mi)
55 Odisha 264 km (164 mi)
56 Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat 290 km (180 mi)
57 Odisha 297 km (185 mi)
58 Rajasthan 620 km (390 mi)
59 Odisha 352 km (219 mi)
60 Maharashtra 395 km (245 mi)
61 Maharashtra, Telangana 652 km (405 mi)
62 Punjab, Rajasthan 748 km (465 mi)
63 Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Odisha 560 km (350 mi)
64 Gujarat 332 km (206 mi)
65 Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana,Andhra Pradesh 926 km (575 mi)
66 Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka,Kerala, Tamil Nadu 1,593 km (990 mi)
67 Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh 300 km (190 mi)
68 Rajasthan, Gujarat 429 km (267 mi)
69 Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh 625 km (388 mi)
71 Andhra Pradesh 108 km (67 mi)
73 Karnataka 316 km (196 mi)
75 Karnataka,Tamil Nadu 533 km (331 mi)
77 Tamil Nadu 177 km (110 mi)
79 Tamil Nadu 137 km (85 mi)
81 Tamil Nadu 340 km (210 mi)
83 Tamil Nadu 394 km (245 mi)
85 Kerala, Tamil Nadu 413 km (257 mi)
87 Tamil Nadu 154 km (96 mi)

Important Points:

The longest National Highway in India:

National Highway 44 (NH 44), (previously National Highway 7), is longest running major North-South National Highway in India that starts from Srinagar and terminates in Kanyakumari. This national highway passes through the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and ends in the Tamil Nadu state.

The shortest National Highway in India:

National Highway 966B, also known as NH 966B is the shortest National Highway in India. Its old name was NH 47A. It covers a distance of 8 km (5.0 mi) between Kundannoor and Willingdon Island in Kochi, Kerala. It starts from the junction of NH 544 at Kundannoor.

World’s Second Highest Motorable Highway

The Leh-Manali Highway, connecting Shimla to Leh in Ladakh is world’s second highest-altitude motor highway.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is responsible for management of a network of National Highways in India. It is a statutory authority, established by NHAI act, 1988. It was made autonomous in 1995. It is responsible for the development, maintenance, management and operation of National Highways

National Highway Development Project (NHDP)

National Highway Development Project (NHDP) is being implemented by NHAI. It involves creation and up-gradation of roads and highways work and construction in order to boost economic development.

SARDP-NE

NHAI is also helping in implementation of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North Eastern Region (SARDP-NE). SARDP-NE is a project to upgrade National Highways connecting state capitals to 2 lanes or 4 lane in north eastern region.

Funding of NHDP

A part of the fuel cess imposed on petrol and diesel is allocated to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for funding the NHDP. This money goes to Central Road Fund, which was established by the parliament via Central Road Fund Act 2000. This fund is often criticized for slow utilization of money, inappropriate allocation and mismanagement of Fund. The NHAI leverages the cess resources to borrow additional funds from the debt market.

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