IRC classification of roads
IRC(Indian Roads Congress) has classified the roads in the India in the following 5 categories:
(a) National Highways
(b) State Highways
(c) Major District Roads
(d) Other District Roads
(e) Village Roads
National Highways(NH):
National highways are the major arterial roads spanning in the length and breadth of the country and connects the Capital to the various state capitals of the country or with the neighbouring countries.
They also connect the famous tourism places of the country.
National highways are numbered and written as NH-1, NH-2 etc. They have the highest design specifications.
State Highways(SH):
State highways are the roads which connect the state capital to other states and to the district headquarters in the state.
They have design specifications similar to those of the National Highways because they carry enough traffic.
Major District Roads(MDR):
These roads connect the district headquarters to the main town centres in the district, and to the headquarters of the other districts also.
They also connect these major town centres to the other state highways of importance.
They have lower design specifications as compared to the NH and SH.
Other district roads(ODR):
These roads connect the rural areas town centres to the major district roads of higher importance.
They provide the facilities for the transportation of the raw materials or the goods mainly of agricultural products from the rural towns to the higher markets and vice-versa.
Village Roads (VR):
These roads connect the rural villages with one another and to the nearest higher level road or to the nearest town centre.
They have lower design specifications and many of them are not even metalled.
Organisation of state highway department Responsibility for new construction and maintenance works on the National Highways is under the control of the Chief Engineer National Highways (CE (NH)).
The CE (NH) reports to MOST for works carried out on the National Highway network.