The total length of National Highways in the country has risen from 91,287 km on 31 December 2014 to 1,31,326 at present (January 2019), with the latest addition being the 58 km Solapur-Tuljapur-Osmanabad section of NH-211 inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (9 January), as per a Press Information Bureau release.
The section is itself part of a larger four-laning project for a 98.717 km stretch of NH-211 between Solapur and Yedashi. This section is being upgraded at a cost of Rs 972.50 crore and is intended to provide better connectivity between Solapur and the Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
The project includes 2 major and 17 minor bridges, as well as 4 vehicular and 10 pedestrian underpasses as part of the section inaugurated today.
The construction of National Highways is proceeding at a rapid pace under the Modi government, with a plan to enhance the total length of the network to 2 lakh km eventually.
While only 16,505 km of National Highways were constructed between 2010-11 and 2013-14, the current government has accelerated that pace to add 28,531 km to the network between 2014-15 and 2017-18, with 9,829 km being added in 2018.
Under its Bharatmala Pariyojana the centre aims to plug critical infrastructure shortages affecting road connectivity across the country, with 6500 km of roads already being allocated for construction to bidders under this programme.