Roadways are the most important means of transport in India. India has one of the largest networks of roadways in the world, aggregating about 2.3 million km. Road transport has preceded railways and still have an edge over it in view of the ease with which in can be built and maintained. Other means of transport like pipelines have limited applications and waterways are localized in rivers and waterbodies, while airways are costly and out of reach of the common people.
Road transport is more useful than railways on account of the following merits.
(a) Construction and maintenance of roads is much lower than the railways.
(b) Roads can traverse comparatively more dissected and undulating topography.
(c) They can negotiate higher gradient of slope and can traverse mountainous regions such as the Himalayas. They can reach remote villages and hilly regions where railway tracts cannot be laid.
(d) Roads provide door-to-door service. Thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower.
(e) Road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transportation. For example, they provide a link between railway stations, airports and sea ports.
(f) They link the villages, towns and cities with the railways. They provide linkage between ports and markets and trading centres.
