“All you need to know about Indian Roads, Their types and different colored milestones”

Milestones are the colorful stones we find on the side of Indian Road like highways and village roads notifying the distance to a location. Nowadays we’ve got a GPS system in our car and maybe we don’t notice that much but still, we do know its existence because we’re seeing this from our childhood.

First let’s see how much long roads do we have & what are the types.

India has over 58, 97,671 kilometers of roads as of March 2017. This makes India the second largest long road network after the United States (66, 405, 709). You need to understand here we’re talking about Paved Road which was built by concrete, Slabs, cement, etc.

Now what are the types of Indian Road we have             

• Expressways
• National highways(NH)
• State Highways(SH)
• District Roads – Major District Roads(MDR) & Other District Roads(ODR)
• Village Roads (RR)

Expressways

The expressway is the highest class of roads in India. Expressways are the roads that have more than one lane. It allows high-speed vehicles. The Expressway’s Construction and Maintenance work is operated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH).  The first expressway in India is Delhi-Noida where the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway becomes one of the largest Expressways in India.

1,455 km of Expressway we have in India, all though recently some article says that it has surpassed 1600+ kilometer.

National highways

National highways are the Highways that connect the major cities in India. The Construction, Maintenance, and Management of the national highways are done by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

India has over 1,51,019 km of National Highway roads as of March 2021.

One more thing about National Highway you should know is Numbering, NH40 or NH23, etc. The National Highways connecting from north to south or vice versa has even number & The NH from east to west & west to east has an odd number.

Learn More: Virtual & Augmented Reality

Longest National Highway is Srinagar to Kanyakumari for 4400kms long, known as NH44 (even number).

State Highways are Highways that mainly connect the major cities throughout the state. State governments have the authority and responsibility to construct and maintain the state highway. Many state highways had constructed by the state Public Works Department. Public Works Department has the responsibility to construct and maintained the road.

In India, Maharashtra has the largest share of state highways in the country.

District Road are the roads that connect each district place to the Taluka place. District road also connects with the state Highways and national highways.

Village Roads or Rural Roads are the roads which occupy over 70% of all Indian Roads.

Have you ever noticed that these milestones have different colors? We’re guessing some of you may have noticed that. But why do they have different colors?