Basic road statistics of India 2015-16
India’s road length increased by 1.31 lakh kilometres within a span of one year between March 2015 and March 2016, according to the latest report released by the road transport and highways ministry. This translates to adding 360 km daily to the country’s road network in comparison to 170 km and 190 km per day in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively. India’s road network increased from 54.72 lakh kms to 56.03 lakh kms on the back of higher pace of construction of rural roads which pushed up the total length by almost half. Not just length, even quality improvement was reported in the national highway (NH) segment with more number of one lane stretches getting converted to minimum two lanes. According to the “Basic Road Statistics of India 2015-16”, the total expenditure — both public and private — was Rs 98,900 crore during 2015-16 in comparison to Rs 54,935 crore during the previous financial year, a whopping 55% increase. However, large chunk of unpaved road network remains a concern as still 38% of the entire road network across the country is yet to be surfaced and most of these are rural roads.