India surpasses China, becomes 2nd largest road network in the world

India has secured the position of having the world's second-largest road network, overtaking China, according to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari who highlighted the accomplishments of his ministry, emphasizing the significant growth of India's road infrastructure over the past nine years.

With the addition of 1.45-lakh km (145,000 km) of road network since 2014, India has now surpassed China, trailing only behind the United States in terms of road coverage. Gadkari mentioned in a press conference that under his leadership, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has actively pursued the construction of new national highways and expressways.

Notably, the NHAI has made remarkable progress in completing greenfield expressways, including the ongoing Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. This ambitious project, with a cost of ₹12,150 crores, is set to become India's longest expressway and aims to significantly reduce travel time between the two major cities to just 12 hours.

Gadkari revealed that India's road network measured 91,287 km nine years ago, showcasing the remarkable growth achieved during his tenure. Since April 2019 alone, the NHAI has constructed over 30,000 km of highways across the country, including prominent expressways such as the Delhi-Meerut and Lucknow-Ghazipur routes in Uttar Pradesh.

The NHAI has also achieved notable recognition on the global stage, securing multiple world records. In May of this year, the organization completed the construction of 100 km of new expressway within a record time of 100 hours during the development of the Ghaziabad-Aligarh Expressway in Uttar Pradesh.

Furthermore, in August last year, NHAI set a Guinness World Record by constructing a continuous 75 km single bituminous concrete road between Amravati and Akola on NH-53 in a remarkable time of 105 hours and 33 minutes.