NH Map

Ministry of  Road, Transport and Highway , Government of India is planning to change the highway numbers by the end of February 2010.

According the ministry sources, the numbering is going to be scientific. Highways starting from north to south will be in even numbers and those running in the east-west direction will be in odd numbers. For example, the East-West corridor starting from Silchar in Assam and terminating in Porbandar in Gujarat will be renamed as NH-27 and the North-South corridor starting from Srinagar and terminating in Kanyakumari will be renumbered NH-44.

The popular NH-8 connecting Delhi and Mumbai will be renumbered as NH-48 and similarly, the Kolkata-Delhi highway, which is presently NH-2, will become NH-19. These primary corridors will also be longer.

Secondary numbers will be in three digits. National Highway network  in the country has grown over the years and , the NH network has increased from 21,378 km in 1947 to 70,934 km.

Although it will take a couple of years for people to get accustomed to the new numbers, in the long run this is expected to be of great help to the country in increasing theNational Highway network.