The budgetary allocation for road transport and highways in India has seen a significant rise, increasing from approximately Rs 311.30 billion in 2013-14 to Rs 3 trillion in 2024-25. Similarly, capital expenditure on National Highways (NHs) has grown substantially from around Rs 510 billion in 2013-14 to Rs 3.01 trillion in 2023-24. This investment in infrastructure has played a crucial role in accelerating economic growth and development.

The length of the National Highway network has expanded from 91,287 km in March 2014 to 1,46,204 km, covering states such as Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and the North-Eastern region. The enhanced budgetary support has also improved road quality, with the length of four-lane and above highways increasing 2.5 times from 18,371 km in 2014 to 48,430 km. Additionally, the share of less-than-two-lane highways has been reduced from 30 per cent to 9 per cent of the total network.

The expansion of National High-Speed Corridors (HSCs) and expressways has further enhanced connectivity, with 2,474 km of such corridors already operational. This has led to improved accessibility and logistics efficiency across the country.

Several key infrastructure projects are currently under construction, including the Vadodara-Mumbai section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, the Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Corridor, the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, the Solapur-Kurnool-Chennai Corridor, the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, the Raipur-Visakhapatnam Economic Corridor, the Char Dham projects in Uttarakhand, and the Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge over the Brahmaputra in Assam. These projects are expected to further strengthen the national highway network and boost regional connectivity.

News source: PIB