India has one of the largest road networks in the world (over 3 million km at present). For the purpose of management and administration, roads in India are divided into the following five categories:

• National Highways (NH)
• State Highways (SH)
• Major District Roads (MDR)
• Other District Roads (ODR)
• Village Roads (VR)

The National Highways are intended to facilitate medium and long distance inter-city passenger and freight traffic across the country. The State Highways are supposed to carry the traffic along major centers within the State. Other District Roads and Village Roads provide villages accessibility to meet their social needs as also the means to transport agriculture produce from village to nearby markets. Major District Roads provide the secondary function of linkage between main roads and rural roads.