PARUL UNIVERSITY

HIGHWAY PLANNING IN
INDIA
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Presented by: Sanket Mistry
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Introduction:
 The need for co-ordinated road development program in a planned
manner was first realised in India after world war II.
 Therefore, the first attempt for proper planning of highway
development programme in India on a long term basis was made at
Nagpur conference in Dec. 1943.
 The outcome of that conference is popularly known as Nagpur Road
Plan from 1943 – 1963.
 Followed by the another two 20 years road development plans that is
Bombay Road Plan 1961 – 1981 and Lucknow Road Plan 1981 –
2001.
 Under PMGSY and Bharat Nirman Scheme of Indian Government
next vision is 2025 for road development in India.
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Nagpur Road Plan (1943 – 1963)
 The Nagpur Road Plan was made with an aim of targeted road length
as 16 km per 100 sq.km area of the country.
 The road network in the country was classified in five categories:
1. National Highways (NH)
2. State Highways (SH)
3. Major District Roads (MDR)
4. Other District Roads (ODR)
5. Village Roads (VR)
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Nagpur Road Plan (1943 – 1963)
 The Road Kilometreage of National Highways, State Highways and
Major District roads in km is given by following formula:
𝐴 𝐵
 + + 1.6N + 8T + D - R
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where,
A = Agricultural area, sq.km
B = Non Agricultural area, sq.km
N = Number of towns and villages with population range 2001-5000.
T = Number of towns and villages with population over 5000.
D = Development allowance of 15% of road length calculation to be
provided for agricultural and industrial development during the next 20
years.
R = Existing length of railway track, km.
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Nagpur Road Plan (1943 – 1963)
 The length of second category roads for Other District Roads and
Village Roads in km is given by the formula:
 ODR + VR (km) = ( 0.32V + 0.8Q + 1.6P + 3.2S ) + D
Where,
V = Number of villages with population 500 or less
Q = Number of villages with population 501 – 1000
P = Number of villages with population 1001 – 2000.
S = Number of villages with population 2001 – 5000.
D = Development allowance of 15% for next 20 years.
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Bombay Road Plan (1961 – 1981)
 By the end of the year 1961, the targets of Nagpur Road plan has been
more or less achieved with the expectations of the National and State
Highways.
 So, the second plan called Bombay Road Plan was prepared with the
target of providing a total road length of 32 km per 100 sq.km area
which is almost double of that achieved up to the year 1961.
 Five different formulae were formed to calculate the length of NH,
SH, MDR, ODR, VR.
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Bombay Road Plan (1961 – 1981)
 The Formulas are:
1. National Highways (km)

2. National Highways + State Highways (km)

3. National Highways + State Highways + MDR (km)

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Bombay Road Plan (1961 – 1981)
4. National Highways + State Highways + MDR + ODR (km)

5. National Highways + State Highways + MDR + ODR + V(km)

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Bombay Road Plan (1961 – 1981)
Where,
A = Developed and Agricultural areas, sq.km
B = Semi-developed area, sq.km
C = Undeveloped area, sq.km
K = Number of towns with population over 1,00,000
M = Number of towns with population range 1,00,000 – 50,000
N = Number of towns with population range 50,000 – 20,000
P = Number of towns with population range 20,000 – 10,000
Q = Number of towns with population range 10,000 – 5,000
R = Number of towns with population range 5,000 – 2,000
S = Number of towns with population range 2,000 – 1,000
T = Number of towns with population range 1,000 - 500
V = Number of towns with population range 500.
D = Development allowance of 5% of road length.
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Bombay Road Plan (1961 – 1981)
 The targeted road length at the end of this 20 years plan was almost
doubled that of the Nagpur road plan target that is a total length of
10,57,330 km.
 Around 5,200 crores was invested in this second road development
plan.
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Lucknow Road Plan (1981 – 2001)
 The third twenty year road development plan, 1981 – 2001 also
known as Lucknow road Plan was finalised and the plan documents
was published by the year 1984.
 The overall density of the road in the country should be increased to
0.8 times the total area that is around 27,00,000 km by 2001.
 All the villages having population more than 500 should be connected
by all weather roads by the end o f 2001.
 The National highway network should be expanded to form square
grids of 100 km sides so that no part of the country is more than 50
km away from NH.
 All the towns and villages with population more than 1500 should be
connected by MDR and villages with population 1000 to 1500 by
ODR.
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Lucknow Road Plan (1981 – 2001)
 The following modified Classification was suggested:
 Primary System:
1. Expressways
2. National Highways
 Second System:
1. State Highways
2. Major District Roads
 Third System:
1. Other District Roads
2. Village Roads.
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Lucknow Road Plan (1981 – 2001)
 The Estimated Road Length by 2001:
1. National Highways = 66,000 km
2. State Highways = 1,45,000 km
3. Major District Roads = 3,00,000 km
4. Other District Roads + Village Roads = 22,00,000 km
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Vision 2021
 IRC published the Road Development Plan Vision 2021 in the year
2001.

 The major thrust areas covered in this vision document relate to

mobility in respect of main roads and accessibility in respect of rural
roads to connect all the villages in the country in the time bound
programme.
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National Highways:

 By the end of Lucknow Plan (1981 – 2001), the National Highway

network stands at 57737 km against a target of 66,000.

 For the next 20 years (2001 – 2021), the attempts should be made to
consolidated the existing NH network and go in for expansion up to
80,000 km.
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National Highways:

 Following Factors to be considered:

1. Connecting major ports, industrial complexes, important growth

nodes, tourist centres.

2. Filling up the grid of 100 km square side, in pockets of various

regions without a NH.

3. Providing linkages with adjoining countries.

4. Connecting capital of the states being carved out now or likely in

future.
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State Highways:

 By the end of Lucknow Plan (1981 – 2001), the State Highway

network stands at 1,24,300 km against a target of 1,45,000.

 So, it was further proposed that the State Highways be increased from
1,24,000 km by 2001 to 1,60,000 km by 2021.
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State Highways:

 Following Factors to be considered:

1. Providing linkage with minor ports, industrial towns, tourists centres.

2. Connecting the remaining towns with population 5000 and above.

3. Connecting the Capitals of newly carved out states with the district
headquarters.
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 As a vision a length of 3,20,000 km of Major District Roads that is
twice the anticipated length of State Highways by 2021 was
considered to be the reasonable target.

 By the end of 2000, only 54 % of villages in the country were

connected by roads.

 The goal set for village roads was to connect all village with a
population below 500 by the end of 2010.

 The work of further improvement of village roads and additional links,

where necessary, was proposed to be taken up in the sub sequent
decade (2011 – 2021)
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 As a result currently, India with it’s 33 lakh kilometres of road
network is the second largest in the world.

 About 60 % of freight and 87.4 % passenger traffic is carried by the

roads and annual growth is projected at 12-15% for passenger traffic,
and 15-18% for cargo traffic.

 According to the “ Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08” by the

World Bank, India lacks inadequate supply of infrastructure.
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Reference
 Highway Engineering By S. K. Khanna & C.E.G. Justo

 Highway Engineering By Dr. S.K. Sharma

 Google Search engine

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