The country's national highway network has shown significant changes: the share of sections with less than two lanes has decreased to a modest 8%. This is a substantial reduction compared to the 2018–2019 period, when such sections accounted for nearly a quarter of the entire network.
According to data, the total length of roads with less than two lanes has decreased by 64% over the last nine years, reaching approximately 13,000 kilometers. Conversely, the length of High-Speed Corridors (HSC) has increased more than 12 times, and highways with four or more lanes have grown by 1.5 times.
Officials noted that the focus in road infrastructure development is shifting towards high-speed corridors, as well as controlled-access corridors and expressways. Since these corridors have a width of at least four lanes, further growth in their share of the overall national highway network is expected. According to officials, this should facilitate faster movement of goods and passengers while reducing logistics costs.
Nevertheless, despite efforts to create a wider and seamless road network, the average speed of trucks and daily mileage remain significantly below global standards. In India, a truck typically covers only 300–350 km per day, whereas in the USA this figure is 700–800 km, and in China—about 550–650 km.
Official representatives provided an example comparing truck speeds on two parallel highways to illustrate the advantages of controlled-access corridors. On the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway, trucks traveled at an average speed of about 80 km/h, while on the parallel NH-64, the average speed was approximately 52 km/h. The study also showed that the daily freight traffic on the expressway almost doubles the traffic on the existing national highway.
Those familiar with the government's plans to expand the number of HSCs reported that the goal is to build about 51,000 km of such network over the next ten years, including corridors that will be developed or built by state government bodies.