File41700004

							                                     Chart I: Total & Surfaced Road Length (1950-51 to 2007-08)


                               45                                                                 41.10
                               40                                              36.22
      Road Length (Lakh Km)




                               35
                               30
                               25
                                                                                            20.36
                               20                                          17.61

                               15
                                                               9.15
                               10
                                             3.99       3.98
                                5     1.57
                                0
                                       1950-51           1970-71            2003-04          2007-08

                                                               Surfaced     Total




The share of the surfaced road length in the total road length also reflected an
improvement. Surfaced road length accounted for 49.5 % of total road length as of
31.3.2008, compared with 39.3% of the total road length as of 31.3.1951.




2.2                           The total road length had expanded significantly since 1970s. It increased from
9.15 lakh km in March 1971 to 41.10 lakh km in March 2008 - an increase of 349 %
over these 37 years yielding a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1 %. The
total road network in the country grew from 36.21 lakh in March 2004 to                                   41.10 lakh
in March 2008 reflecting an increase of 4.89 lakh km yielding a CAGR of 3.2 % over
this period. Table: 1 gives snap shot of progress in expansion of road length under
different categories during the period 1971-2008.




                                                                      ii
 Table1: Category-wise break-up of Total and Surfaced Roads, 1971 & 2008 (As of 31st March)

              Year/Category                Total/          1971                        2008
                                          Surfaced
                                                                   ( in Kilometres)
A.   Highways                                  T          711966                      2473267
                                               S          338483                      1404122
     PWD Roads                                 T          357436                      1084517
                                               S          273660                       938875
     i) National Highways                      T           23838                        66754
                                               S           23276                        66754
     ii) State Highways                        T           56765                       154522
                                               S           51744                       152738
     iii) Other PWD Roads                      T          276833                       863241
                                               S          198640                       719383
     Panchayat Raj Roads                       T          354530                      1388750
                                               S           64823                       465247
     i) Zilla Parishad Roads                   T          161247                       508608
                                               S           36402                       278962
     ii) Village Panchayat Roads               T          107215                       670107
                                               S           12316                       135331
     iii) CD/Panchayat Samiti Roads            T           86068                       210035
                                               S           16105                        50954
B    Rural Roads constructed under             T              …                       1061809
     JRY and PMGSY                             S              …                        345011
C Urban Roads                                  T           72120                       304327
                                               S           53359                       212750
     i) Municipal Roads                        T           61540                       277264
                                               S           44817                       188047
     ii) MES Roads                             T            5701                        14143
                                               S            5096                        13952
     iii) Railway Roads                        T            4451                        11749
                                               S            3018                         9659
     iv) Port Roads (Major+Minor)              T             428                         1171
                                               S             428                         1092
D Project Roads                                T          130893                       270189
                                               S            6106                        74180
     i) Forest Department                      T          109738                       153940
                                               S            3213                        27616
     ii) Irrigation Department                 T           20347                        80124
                                               S            2234                        25868
     iii) Sugar Cane Authority                 T             808                        25976
                                               S             659                        11354
     iv) Electricity Department                T              …                          5005
                                               S              …                          4559
     v) Coal Mines                             T              …                          2575
                                               S              …                          2436
     vi) SAIL & NMDC                           T                                         2569
                                               S                                         2347
     ALL CATEGORIES (A+B+C+D)                  T          914979                      4109592
                                               S          397948                      2036063
Note: T-Total road length; S-Surfaced road length




                                                    iii
3. Category wise Growth in Roads
3.1                    As seen from the Table 1, the total surfaced road length grew from 3, 97,948
km (accounting for 43.5% of the total road length) in 1971 to 20,36,063 km (
accounting for 49.5 % of the total road length) in 2008 reflecting a more than five
fold increase in surfaced road length. Category wise classification of road length
showed that during this period, the length of National Highways (NHs) increased
from 23,838 km to 66,754 km – an increase of over 180 % or CAGR of 2.8 %. During
the same period, the length of State Highways (SHs) increased from 56,765 km to
1,54,522 km (an increase of over 172 % or CAGR of 2.7 % )and the length of Other
PWD roads increased from 2,76,833 km in 1971 to 8,63,241 km in 2008 (an increase of
about 212 % or CAGR of 3.1 %).                             Various categories of Urban roads together
expanded in length from 72,120 km to 3,04,327 km reflecting an increase of over 322
% or CAGR of 3.97 %. The highest growth over these 37 years took place in respect of
Rural Roads which increased from 3,54,530 km to 24,50,559 km (including 10,61,809
lakh km roads constructed under JRY & PMGSY )registering an increase of nearly 591
% and a CAGR of 5.4 %. The lowest growth, however, took place in the length of
Project roads which increased from 1,30,893 km in March 1971 to 2,70,189 km by
March 2008 resulting in a growth of 106 % and a CAGR of 1.98 % only. The graphical
representation of the growth trend of road length by category of roads between
1950-51 and 2007-08 is depicted in Chart II.

                                           Chart II: Trend of Growth of Road Length by Categories
                                                              1950 - 51 to 2007- 08

                       4500000
                       4000000
                       3500000
 Road Length (in Km)




                       3000000
                       2500000
                       2000000
                       1500000
                       1000000
                       500000
                            0
                                 1950-51      1960-61   1970-71    1980-81   1990-91   2000-01      2007-08

                             National Highways           State Highways           Other PWD Roads
                             Rural Roads                 Urban Roads              Project Roads
                             Total Road Length




                                                              iv