Classification of roads

                 Classification of roads 

The road can be divided into various categories depending on different factors such as traffic volume, type of traffic, purpose of road, importance, design speed, long or short distance traffic, horizontal and vertical alignment, etc.

 Rural Road 

According to the third road development plan, the rural road are classified into three parts  :-

a) Primary System - It consists of Expressway and National Highway.
b) Secondary System - It consists of State Highway and Major District 

Road.
c) Tertiary System -  It consists of Other District Road and Village
 Road.

 Urban Road 

The system of roads existing in urban areas  is called Urban Road. They are divided into following types  :-

a) Arterial Road 

b) Sub Arterial Road

c) Collector Streets 

d) Local Streets

Urban Road

    

    Expressway 

  In  this type, road has superior facility and design specification. These are having minimum four lane or more and the owner of this Highway may be State or Central government depending upon the location and category.

For example, Yamuna Expressway and Bombay to Pune Expressway.

    National Highway

  National Highway are  the important Highway of country connecting major parts, capital of States, large industrial and tourist Centre. They also connect the highway of neighbouring countries and are required for the strategic movement of army. These roads are constructed and maintained by National Highway Authority of India. They are assigned by specific number. For examples, the National Highway from Delhi to Amritsar by Ambala is named NH1 and GT road from Kolkata to Amritsar is named NH 91. The total length of National Highway in India is around 60,000 km which is only about two percent of the total road length of the country but it carried about 40% of the traffic.

    State Highway 

 These are the Arterial Road of the State. They connect major city in the State, District headquarter and to the National Highway of the adjacent State. These are funded by respective State Government. The total length of State Highway is  about 1,40,000 km.

   Major District Road 

 These are important roads within the District connecting market and production centres with each other and with  the main Highway. They have lower speed unit as compared to NH and SH. The total length of major district road in India is about 4,20,000 km.

   Other District Road 

These roads serve rural areas of production and provide them access to market centres, block headquarter and Major District Roads.

   Village Road 

These roads connect villages with each other and to the other district roads. The total length of the village roads in India is around 26,50,000 km.

  Arterial Roads 

The system of roads provide the basic network for traffic flow. These roads may be used for travelling between urban areas between Central business district and outline residential
 areas.

  Sub Arterial Road 

  They are functionally similar to the road but having low traffic volume. They are generally 0.5 km apart in Central business district and 3 to 5 km apart in the Suburban.

  Collector Street 

 Their purpose is to collect traffic from residential areas through local streets upto Sub Arterial and Arterial roads.

  Local Street 

 The local street are provided space to facilitate movement of traffic from residential areas to collecting street. Moreover the traffic volume in local street is lowest as compared to the other category of roads.