Roadways in Nepal
Roadways in Nepal
Road transport is very important in the context of our country. Railways can only be made available in the plain areas of Terai. Nepal, being a land-locked country, waterways are not possible and airways are comparatively expensive. For all these regions, priority is given to roadways. Nepal has made good progress in construction of roads in spite of some difficulties mainly in the hill areas. Till 1951, the country had only 376 kilometers of roads. While coming across 2000 there were 15905 km, roads in Nepal. In the hill areas where good roads are not available, some mule tracks, foot trails, and suspension bridges are made. In rural areas, there are some improved cable bridges over streams and rivulets, and village trails as well.
Some of the Main Highways of Nepal
- Tribhuwan Highway – 192 km.
- Araniko Highway – 114 km.
- Prithvi Highway – 174 km.
- Siddhartha Highway – 180 km.
- Dharan – Dhankuta Highway – 50 km.
- Dhangadi – Dadeldhura Highway – 135 km.
- Mahendra Highway – 1028 km.
- B.P Koirala Highway – 174 km.
In addition to these, there are Narayanghat – Butwal Highway, Dhangadi – Darchula Highway, Narayanghat – Gorkha Highway, Dumre – Besishahar Highway, Pokhara – Baglung Highway, Charali – Ilam Highway, Ilam – Taplejung Highway, Tansen – Tamghas Highway, Kohalpur – Surkhet Highway, Nepalgunj – Gulariya Highway, etc.
Network of Land Transportation
More maps can be found here.
Our government’s policy, under different periodical plans, has been to develop surface transport structure by constructing two parallel East-West Highways – one along the Terai and another along the mid-hills. In addition, the government has planned to build north-south feeder roads to connect the remote areas with two parallel east-west highways in order to link the whole country by roads. The east-west highway along the mid-hills may be considered the existing one about 400 km. running from Jiri, in the east to Baglung, in the west.
Many of our friendly countries have helped us in constructing these roads. Countries like India, China, Britain, Russia, and others have built most of our roads. Local resources have also been mobilized particularly in the construction of suspension bridges, foot, and mule trails. Local people voluntarily have been contributing their labor and assisting the government to fulfill its plan of development. All these are positive signs of development and it is hoped that soon there will be a network system of roads that would lead the country in the development of all areas.
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