HIGHWAY

NAME:BIDYUT BARMAN
DEVELOPMENT BRANCH:CIVIL ENGINEERING
IN INDIA AFTER SEM:5TH
REGG. NO:211180101320086
WORLD WAR I ROLL NO:11801321134
TOPIC- HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
AFTER WORLD WAR I
SUBJECT- TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
SUBJECT CODE- CE (PC)506
 The Early History of roads around the world

•The origin of roads dates back to the period before the

advent of recorded history. As civilization advanced, the
growth of agriculture took place and human settlements
began to form. From one settlement to another, tracks
were formed. These tracks might have been the skeletal
framework of modern highways.
•The invention of wheel in early Mesopotamian Civilization
–Ubaidian culture(approx 3500 – 5000 B.C.) was a
revolution in their transport system. Man soon learned the
art of joining two wheels to get the advantage of an axle
and thereby built two-wheeled and four-wheeled carts
and chariots. The art of road building soon began with the
need to provide a hard durable surface to withstand the
abrading effects of the wheels.
 The mention of road buildings in Early Civilizations.

• Indus – Valley Civilization (2600 – 2800 B.C.)

flourished with well planned towns having an
elaborate street and drainage system. The
streets were laid out in regular order in
straight lines (modern grid pattern). The
biggest street in Mohenjo Daro was half a
mile long and about thirty feet wide. It is
likely that the wheeled carts were in
existence then.

• The Roman Civilization (8th Century B.C.) was

well known for good road system it built.
About 1,00,000 km. road network served
military and administrative purposes of the
Roman Empire extended over vast regions.
Rome was the focal point from where 29
major roads radiated in all directions. This is
the basis of the famous saying : “All roads
lead to Rome.” The top layers of the
pavement consisted of flat stones. Lime
mortar was used to cement the stones.
Bridges were built across the rivers with
stone blocks. With the decline of the Roman
Empire, the road building received a set back
in Europe.
 The mention of road buildings in Early Civilizations.

• The art of building long and

durable bridges was
speciality of Roman
civilization.

• During Egyptian Civilization

(3000 B.C.), the construction
of Pyramids was facilitated
because of a good road for
transporting huge stone
blocks.
 The Roads in India during later part of Ancient History.

• The Mauryan Emperors (321 to 185 B.C.)

built very good roads. Chandragupta
Maurya constructed around 2400 km. long
road across the sub-continent connecting
Pataliputra (Modern Patna) to Takshashila
(Now in Pakistan). It touched cities like
Varanasi, Kausambhi, Mathura,
Indraprastha (Modern Delhi) and
Kurukshetra. This road is more or less of
the same alignment of the present NH-2 –
the G. T. Road.
• Kautilya, the great administrator of that
time and the author of Arthasastra, laid
down the standard widths of various
classes of roads.
• Magesthenes, a Greek Ambassador visited
India during the period, mentioned that
Mauryan rulers were great road builders.
Special care was taken to repair the roads,
trees were planted along the roads to give
shades, wells were dug and rest houses
were provided for the comfort of the
travelers. At large river crossing, ferry
services were provided by the state.
 The Roads in India during later part of Ancient History

• In Gupta period (270 A.D. to 467 A.D.)

which was considered to be the golden
era of Indian History, roads received a
great impetus.
• Fahien, a Chinese pilgrim who visited India
in 405 A.D. (Gupta Period), traveled widely
on India’s roads and has left impressive
accounts of the roads system. He was
particularly impressed by the security and
comforts provided to the travelers.
• Another Chinese traveler, Hiuen-Tsang,
visited India in the first part of Seventh
Century A.D. during the reign of
Harshavardhana (606 A.D. – 647 A.D.). He
mentioned about the good maintenance
that the roads received because the king
personally traveled on the roads on a wide
scale.
 Roads in India during Medieval History (Muslim Rule)

• The travel accounts of Al Beruni and Ibn

Battuta in eleventh and fourteenth centuries
respectively, have left flattering accounts of
roads during those period.
• According to their narration it is known that
the important roads were provided with tree
plantation on both sides, rest houses, postal
stations and deep wells for water supply.
• History of roads in India would be
imcomplete if the great deed of Sher Shah
Suri, the Pashtun monarch, who in a short
tenure during 16th century, built Grant Trunk
Road, is not mentioned. The road was
originally built from Agra (the capital city of
Sher Shah Suri) to Sasaram (his home town).
He named this road as Sarak-e-Azam where
he introduced “Kos Minaras” the equivalent
of modern milestone.
• After the brief reign of Sher Shah, the
Mughal Emperors extended this road
westward to Kabul and eastward to the port
city Chittagong.
 Roads in India during Early Modern History (British Period)

• The period covering decline of the

Mughals and the beginning of the
British rule was a period of neglect of
road system in India.
• Only William Bentinck and Lord
Dalhousie took some steps to improve
the roads.
• Lord Dalhousie organized to form the
provincial P.W.D. in place of Military
Board in 1885 for maintenance and
construction of road. Specifications
were framed for construction of road.
• These efforts had resulted in the
establishment of a good system of trunk
roads in the country by the end of the
nineteenth century.
• Development of road received a real
set-back after the introduction of
railways in the mid of nineteenth
century.
 Roads in India during Early Modern History (British Period)

• The need of administration and

military was well adequately
served by railways. The
improvement of roads was
confined only to the feeder roads
leading to railway yards / depot.
• The primitive road transport
means were limited to horse carts
and bullock carts only. Whereas
the “iron horse” (railway engine)
was a quick means of transport.
• The time lag between the advent
of the railways and the
appearance of motorized vehicles
in India was nearly half a century.
This period can be considered to
be the darkest period in the
history of roads in India.
 Post 1st World War Period

• After 1st World War (1914-1919)

there was a rapid growth in motor
transport.
• The pneumatic tyred vehicles caused
rapid deterioration of Indian roads
which were already in sad state of
neglect due to lack of Government
interest and inadequate finance at
the command of the local bodies.
• Need for better road was felt and
expressed in the council of States. In
November’1927, following a debate
on this subject in the Council, Govt.
of India appointed a committee
called Road Development Committee
consisting of members from both the
houses of the Central Legislature with
Mr. M. R. Jayakar as Chairman.
 Post 1st World War Period :-

• The committee, known popularly as Jayakar Committee was required to :-

 Examine the desirability of developing the road system in India and the means by which such
development could be achieved.
 Examine the distribution of functions of central and provincial governments by formation of
Central Road Board or otherwise.
Amongst the findings of Jayakar Committee the important points were :
• The road development in India was beyond the financial capacity of the local Governments.
As it was a matter of national interest, it was proper to charge on Central Revenues.
• Since additional demands and requirements were created by growth of motor transport, the
committee suggested imposition of additional taxation on motor transport such as –
– A duty on motor spirit.
– Vehicle taxation.
– License fees for vehicles plying for hire.
• The additional funds from motor spirit duty were to go to the Central Revenue as Road
Development Fund.
• However, the committee did not consider it necessary to create a Central Road Board but
recommended the appointment of a road engineer attached to the development dealing
with roads.
 The Indian Roads Congress.
• One of the recommendations of
Jayakar Committee was holding of
periodic Road Conference to discuss
inter alia questions relating to road
construction and development. The
first such conference was held in
1930. These conferences created
great interest and paved the way for
establishment of Indian Roads
Congress in 1934.

• The inaugural meeting of Indian

Roads Congress was held in New Delhi
in December, 1934. The meeting was
attended by 73 engineers from all
parts of India.
 The Indian Roads Congress.
• IRC was registered as a society in 1937
under the Societies Registration Act of
1860.
• The principal objectives of IRC are –
• to promote and encourage the
science and practice of road building
and maintenance.
• to publish standard specifications
regarding road and bridge works.
• to hold periodic meetings to discuss
technical questions regarding roads and
bridges.
• to suggest improved methods of
administrations, planning, design,
construction, operation, use and
maintenance of roads.
 Post Second World War Scenario
• The second world war saw a rapid growth in road traffic which caused serious deterioration in the
condition of roads. The situation compelled the govt. to convene a conference of Chief Engineers of
provinces at Nagpur in 1943. The result of conference is famous as “Nagpur Plan”.
• Some of the salient recommendations of Nagpur Plan are :-
– The roads should be divided into four classes :
– National Highways, which would traverse provinces or states and be of national importance for
strategic, administrative and other purposes.
– Provincial and State Highways, which would be the other main roads of a Province or State
– .District Roads, which would take traffic from the main roads to the interior of the districts. According
to their importance, some of these should be considered as Major District Roads (MDR) and the
remaining as Other District Roads (ODR).
– Village Roads, which would link the villages to the road system.
• There should be balance of development of all classes, one class should not progress at the expense of
other classes.
• The National and State Highways and Major District Roads should mostly be provided with a hard, durable
pavement crust.
• The Other District Roads and Village Roads should be provided with a properly engineered earth surface,
but improvements such as gravelling, soil stabilization, macadam or track ways could be considered where
necessary.
• Formula had been suggested to determine the length of different categories of roads and as per that
formula, a 20 years time-span (1943-1963) was set to achieve the targeted length.
 Early Post Independence Development

•
Sl. Category Road
The Nagpur Plan provided a
rational basis for road
No. length(Km)
development in India to upgrade 1(a) NH 26,715
the war-damaged road system.
• After independence the Central (b) National 6,680
Government had taken over the Trails
complete financial responsibility 2 SH 86,825
for the development and
maintenance of the National 3 MDR 80,145
Highways.
• The targets of Nagpur Plan were 4 ODR 1,33,580
mostly achieved by 1960 through
the first and second five year 5 VR 1,98,755
plan (1951-56) and (1956-61).
 Early Post Independence Development
• The salient land marks in these
periods were :-
– Central Road Research Institute
(CRRI) was started in 1950 in
New Delhi. This institute is
considered as one of the
National Laboratories of the
Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research in India.
• Nation Highway Act was enabled in
1956, according to which
– The National Highways vest in Union.
– The Central Govt. may by notification,
declare any highway to be NH.
• A major amendment of this act was
done in 1995 to enable privately
financed Toll Roads to be built and
operated.
 Road Development Plan (1961-81) : Bombay Plan or Chief Engineer’s Plan

• In 1959, a twenty years plan Category Road Cost(Rs.Cr

length(Km) ores)
(1961-81) was drafted in the
meeting of Chief Engineers which
is popularly known as Bombay NH 51,500 980
Plan or Chief Engineer’s plan. The
board objectives of the plan were
SH 1,12,650 1,580
– Provision of good communication
in the rural areas is essential to
check increasing urbanisation. MDR 2,41,400 1,360
– Strategic needs in economic,
industrial and agricultural sides ODR 2,89,680 650
are to be duly taken care off.
– Targets of every category of
VR 3,62,100 630
roads were set based on some
rational formula, which was
10,57,000 km. in total involving Total 10,57,330 5200
Rs.5,200 crores.
 Mid of Post Independence Period
• In the decades of 1980’s and 1990’s, some important steps were
taken in Road Sector.

• International lending agencies like the World Bank, the Asian

Development Bank, OECF (Now JBIC) stepped in to provide loan
assistance for road projects.

• Engagement of consultants for project preparation and

construction supervision.

• Packaging of large size road projects.

• State-of-art road construction technology and equipments.

 References
• Transportation Engineering Book  A.K.
Upadhyay 
• www.google.com
 Thank
you .