In India, the National Highways are the main long distance roadways. They are maintained by the Central Government, and the majority are two-lane (one in each direction). They span about 58,000 km, of which 4,885 km are central separated expressways. Indian highways comprise around 2% of the road network, but they carry nearly 40% of the total traffic. The National Highways Development Project, currently being implemented, seeks to massively expand India`s highway network. Some of the Busy National Highway sectors in India have been converted to 6 or 4 lane expressways for example, Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Jaipur, Ahmedabad-Vadodara, Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Surat, Bangalore-Mysore, Bangalore-Chennai and Chennai-Tada.

Historical Development of the Indian National Highways
In ancient times the ruling monarchs had established brick-laden roads in their cities. The most famous highway of medieval India was the Grand Trunk Road. The Grand Trunk Road begins in Sonargaon near Dhaka, Bangladesh and ends in Peshawar, Pakistan. It travels through important Indian cities and route such as Patna, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Delhi, Panipat, Pipli, Ambala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar. In the 19th century, the British upgraded the highway network along with building roads in treacherous terrains such as the Western Ghats. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the national authority for the management of a network of over 6,000 km of National Highways in India.

Background: The NHAI was created with the promulagation of the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988. The Authority was formally made operational in February 1995 as an autonomous body. It succeeds the previous Ministry of Surface Transport.

Responsibilities: It is responsible for the development, maintenance, management and operation of National Highways entrusted to it by the NHAI.

Projects: The NHAI has been mandated to implement the Rs. 54,000 Crores (US$ 13.2 billions) National Highway Development Project (NHDP), which includes the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and the NS-EW Corridor (NSEW) corridors.

Important Highways
NH 24: National Highway24 is the designation of the Delhi-Lucknow National Highway in India. It is 438 kilometers in length and runs from Delhi to Lucknow.

NH 3: National Highway 3, commonly referred as Mumbai- Agra Road, is an busy freeway that runs through of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh states in India. The freeway touches the cities of Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Dhaulpur in Rajasthan, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Biaora, Maksi & Indore in Madhya Pradesh, and Dhule, Nashik, Thane & Mumbai, in Maharashtra.The road is the part of National Highway network of India, and it is officially listed as running over 1161 Km from Agra to Mumbai.

National Highway 4: National Highway 4 is the highway between Mumbai and Chennai. The highway passes through Bangalore and Pune and is also one of the busiest highways in India. This highway is part of the Indian government`s Golden Quadrilateral Project.

Indian National Highway 8: National Highway 8 is the major commercial Road that connects Mumbai with New Delhi. The highway passes through the state capitals of Gandhinagar and Jaipur, as well as important places like Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.This highway is also part of the Indian government`s Golden Quadrilateral Project.

National Highway 17: NH 17 is a highway connecting Mumbai to Ernakulam. It starts at Panvel, at junction of National Highway 4, and ends at Edappally, near Ernakulam. National Highway 17 mainly passes through the west coast of India, sometimes touching shores of Arabian sea. The National Highway 17 touches the Arabian sea at Marvanthe in Karnataka. It passes through the Indian states of Maharastra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.

The National Highway 17 connects cities and towns of different states as follows: Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Panaji, Madgaon, Karwar, Kumta, Udupi, Surathkal, Mangaluru, Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikkode and Ernakulam. The National Highway 17 connects the interior parts of coastal regions with rest of the country. The National Highway 17 connects major sea ports of Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugoa, New Mangalore ( NMPT ) and Cochin. The Highway was the only source of connection between areas in the coastal districts, until the Konkan Railway was opened in 1998, between Mumbai and Mangalore.

NH 47: National Highway 47, commonly referred to as NH 47, is an exteremely busy highway that runs through some parts of Tamil Nadu and the south-west coast of Kerala state in India. The highway touches the cities of Salem, Coimbatore, Palakkad, Trichur, Cochin, Kollam all the way to the southern tip of India around Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). It is easily reachable to most residents of Western Kerala, and runs within a few kilometers of Cochin International Airport, located in Nedumbassery, and another international airport, Trivandrum International Airport in the city of Thiruvananthapuram. The road is the part of National Highway network of India, and it is officially listed as running over 650 Km from Salem to Kanyakumari.

NH 48: National Highway 48 connects Mangalore city with Bangalore city. The highway connects two major cities of Karnataka state of India.This national highway passes through towns of Nelamangala, Kunigal, Hassan, Sakleshpura, Uppinaangadi and B.C.Road. The traffic on this highway has increased phenomenally after 1990 A.D due to boom in IT jobs at Bangalore and setting up of MRPL at Katipalla. Large number of IT professionals working in Bangalore belong to Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.The goverment undertaking KSRTC runs several buses day and night in between these two cities along with private operators.