What is National Highway and Expressway in India?

Introduction

Are expressways and national highways the same thing in India? Many people use these terms interchangeably, but legally and functionally they are distinct. Understanding the difference is important for everyone from the general public curious about road travel, to law students and professionals concerned with infrastructure law. This blog breaks down the definitions, legal framework, and key differences between expressways and national highways in India, backed by references to laws, policies, and court judgments. We will see that while all expressways are highways, not all highways are expressways, and the term “national highway” carries a specific legal status that “expressway” does not.

National Highways in India: Definition and Legal Status

National Highways are those roads in India that have been formally declared as such by the central government. Under the National Highways Act, 1956, Parliament empowered the central government to declare any highway as a “national highway” via a notification in the Official Gazette. In fact, Entry 23 of the Union List in India’s Constitution explicitly gives Parliament authority over “highways declared by or under law made by Parliament to be national highways”. This means that a road stretch gains the status of a national highway only through a legal act or notification by the central government. The Supreme Court of India affirmed this in a 2020 judgment, stating Parliament has full power to designate any stretch of road (even new, non-existing ones) as a national highway.

Legally, once a highway is declared “national”, it vests in the Union government and comes under central jurisdiction. All national highways in India are owned and overseen by agencies of the central government, primarily the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), established by the NHAI Act, 1988, is the key agency that builds, upgrades, and maintains most of these roads. The NHAI Act defines a “national highway” simply as any highway declared as such under the 1956 Act. In other words, “national highway” is a legal status, granted by the central government, indicating the

road is part of the nationwide network and typically connecting multiple states or major cities.

National highways are traditionally arterial roads meant for long-distance travel, forming the backbone of India’s road network. They span over 150,000 km across India (as of the latest data) and carry a significant portion of traffic. By design, many national highways are high-quality roads (often 4-lane or more) with grade separations at busy junctions. However, not all national highways are alike some older national highways pass through towns with traffic signals and at-grade intersections, whereas newer national highways are being built as access-controlled corridors. The key point is that “national highway” indicates administrative classification and funding, not necessarily uniform design standards.

Expressways in India: What Makes an Expressway?

Expressways represent the highest class of road infrastructure in India, designed for high-speed and high-volume traffic. According to the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and NHAI, an expressway is a fully access-controlled highway with divided carriageways (separated by a median), designed for uninterrupted, high-speed travel. Features of an expressway include entry and exit only via designated ramps or interchanges, no direct access to adjacent land, no crossroads or traffic lights, and often multiple lanes (6, 8, or more) to handle heavy traffic. In practical terms, if you’re driving on a road where you must take a ramp to exit and you never encounter a traffic signal or a slow tractor, you are likely on an expressway.

It’s important to note that “expressway” is not a legal category defined by a specific Act of Parliament in the way “national highway” is. Instead, it is an engineering and administrative term denoting a type of highway built to certain standards. Most expressways are relatively new, part of India’s push for modern infrastructure. As of late 2024, India had over 6,000 km of expressways, with thousands more kilometres under construction. These include famous routes like the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway, and more.

Expressways are designed for speed the typical speed limit for cars on Indian expressways is 120 km/h, higher than on normal highways. In 2018, the central government even issued a notification setting the speed limit to 120 km/h on expressways (versus 100 km/h on national highways) to reflect their superior design. (This was briefly contested in court on safety grounds, but the policy underscores that expressways are intended for faster travel.) Another hallmark of expressways is restricted access for certain vehicles slow-moving vehicles, three-wheelers, and two-wheelers are often banned on expressways by administrative orders for safety. This again differentiates them from general highways where all vehicle types share the road.

In summary, “expressway” refers to a road built for high-speed, controlled-access travel. It is a concept recognized in government planning and highway engineering guidelines, though not a separate constitutional or statutory class of road. Think of it this way: an expressway is a premium type of highway built for efficiency and speed.

Key Differences Between National Highways and Expressways

At this point, it’s clear that national highways (NH) and expressways are not the same, though they often overlap. Let’s break down the differences in a concise way:

• Legal Status & Governance: A national highway is a legal status of a road declared under law by the central government. It falls under Union government responsibility (MoRTH/NHAI) for development and maintenance. An expressway is defined by design it can be built or owned by either the central government or a state government. If an expressway is part of the national highway network, NHAI or central authorities manage it; otherwise, a state agency does. In fact, some expressways are national highways, but others are not. For example, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and Delhi-Mumbai Expressway are under NHAI (hence part of the national highway network), whereas the Yamuna Expressway (Greater Noida to Agra) and Mumbai-Pune Expressway are managed by state authorities and are not national highways.

• Access Control & Design: Expressways are fully access-controlled with entry/exit ramps and no at-grade crossings. National highways, on the other hand, may or may not be access-controlled. Many older national highways have intersections, pedestrian crossings, or stop lights when passing through cities. While the trend is to upgrade NHs to limited access or even expressway standard, legally an NH need not be an expressway. The presence of toll gates on exits (closed toll system) and the absence of slow traffic are telltale signs of an expressway. National highways often have an open toll system (toll plazas periodically on the highway itself) and allow mixed traffic.

• Speed Limits & Traffic Rules: As noted, speed limits are higher on expressways generally 120 km/h for cars compared to 100 km/h on National Highways. Because expressways are designed for safety at higher speeds, traffic regulations also differ. Two-wheelers and other slow vehicles are typically prohibited on expressways by NHAI or local rules, whereas on most national highways all vehicle types can travel (though with lane restrictions in some cases). This makes expressways faster and safer for long-distance driving, while national highways cater to a wider range of local and through traffic.

• Examples & Nomenclature: National highways are numbered with the “NH” prefix (or just by number in the new numbering scheme, e.g. NH-44). Expressways often carry names or separate numbering. For instance, National Expressway 1 (NE-1) refers to the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway, which is also a national highway by declaration. National Expressway 2 (NE-2) is the Eastern Peripheral Expressway around Delhi, also under central control. But many other expressways have no NH number because they aren’t in the national network (e.g., Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh is state-run). The bottom line: “National Highway” is a category that might include an expressway if officially declared, whereas “Expressway” is a descriptive term that might or might not fall under the national highway category.

• Funding & Construction: National highways are primarily funded by the central government (with support from multilateral loans or private partnerships in many cases). Expressways, especially the big new ones, often also rely on central funds indeed, the majority of expressway investment has come from the central government. However, certain states have taken the lead in building their own expressways. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in particular have dedicated expressway development corporations to finance and build state expressways. Examples include UP’s Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, and Ganga Expressways (by UPEIDA), and Maharashtra’s Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg (by MSRDC). Those remain under state jurisdiction unless later transferred to the centre. This division in funding also reflects governance: an expressway built by a state remains that state’s responsibility for maintenance and tolling, unlike an NHAI-run expressway.

The Legal Framework Governing Highways vs Expressways

From a legal perspective, national highways are governed by specific central laws, whereas expressways do not have a standalone law. Key statutes and provisions include:

• National Highways Act, 1956: Provides for declaration of national highways and their administration. It also enables land acquisition for NH projects through a special process. Once a road is notified as a national highway, it is legally in the Union government’s domain. The Act’s Section 2 and the Schedule define which routes are national highways (this gets updated via notifications over time).

• National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Act, 1988: Created the NHAI as an autonomous authority to develop and maintain national highways. It reinforces that “national highway” means any highway declared under the 1956 Act. NHAI often enters into contracts (including public-private partnerships) for building expressways and highways on the national network.

• Constitutional Scheme: As mentioned, the Union List (List I) reserves national highways for Parliament, while the State List (List II) includes “roads” not declared national. This means states can legislate and control roads within their territory unless that road is declared a national highway. If the Centre declares a certain route as NH, the state’s role shifts to cooperation rather than primary control. The Supreme Court has clarified that Parliament’s power in this field is broad it can declare new highways as national even if they traverse “greenfield” land not previously a road. Thus, projects like new expressway corridors can be centrally driven by invoking this power.

• State Laws and Agencies: States have their Public Works Departments (PWDs) and in some cases special laws or authorities for road development. For example, Maharashtra’s state road development corporation was instrumental in the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, and Uttar Pradesh created an expressway industrial development authority for its projects. These operate under state legislation or executive orders. When an expressway is purely a state project, the Land acquisition, construction contracts, and toll rules follow state laws (or general laws like the Land Acquisition Act, if applicable). On the other hand, an expressway that is also a national highway will use central laws like the NH Act for land acquisition and central rules for tolling (e.g., National Highways Fee Rules).

• Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 & Traffic Rules: This central Act (applicable to all roads) doesn’t distinguish expressway vs highway explicitly in definitions, but the government issues notifications under it for speed limits and vehicle restrictions. For instance, as noted, the speed limit notification in 2018 set a different limit for expressways versus other roads. Additionally, traffic rules (like lane driving, overtaking, etc.) are more strictly enforced on expressways via special regulations (sometimes there are separate Expressway Patrols and Police notifications for managing these high-speed corridors).

Importantly, there is currently no separate “Expressway Act” at the national level.

However, policy moves indicate the government’s recognition of expressways as a distinct category needing focused management. In 2024, it was reported that the Centre is considering a separate authority for expressways, distinct from NHAI. This new authority would exclusively handle expressway projects, given that expressways involve different construction standards and tolling systems compared to regular highways. This plan aligns with India’s vision to massively expand expressway networks by 2047 (targeting 50,000 km of expressways) in addition to the existing national highways. If this materializes, we might see more formal distinction in governance between expressways and highways in the future.

Case Studies: How Classification Affects Real World Usage

To truly grasp the difference, let’s look at a couple of real-world examples:

• Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) vs Yamuna Expressway: The DME, opened a few years ago, is an expressway that has been integrated into the national highway system (it is part of NH-9/NH-34 and is managed by NHAI). On this road, you can use the central government’s Annual Toll Pass and FASTag seamlessly. In contrast, the Yamuna Expressway from Greater Noida to Agra is a state-developed expressway (built by a private concessionaire under Uttar Pradesh government oversight). It is not notified as a national highway, so NHAI toll passes or schemes do not work there. Travelers have to pay tolls set by the Yamuna Expressway authority, and the enforcement (speed cameras, etc.) is managed by the state. This illustrates that being an expressway doesn’t automatically mean being part of the national network.

• Mumbai-Pune Expressway vs Old Mumbai-Pune Highway: The Mumbai-Pune Expressway (officially Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway) is a 6-lane access-controlled road opened in 2002 by Maharashtra. It was the first of its kind in India. This expressway runs largely parallel to the older NH-48 (formerly NH-4) route between Mumbai and Pune. NH-48 is a national highway, a mix of 4-6 lanes in parts, but it goes through cities, has some at-grade intersections, and carries all traffic including two-wheelers. The expressway, meanwhile, is cars and buses only, no stops, and shorter in distance due to bypassing cities. Legally, the expressway is owned by the state (through MSRDC), whereas NH-48 is under NHAI. This means a trucker or biker must take the national highway, not the expressway. Also, any legal issues (say, an accident liability or a toll dispute) on the expressway might be dealt under state regulations and contract law, whereas on the NH route, central motor vehicle rules and NHAI regulations apply.

• Upcoming Greenfield Expressways: Many new expressways like the Delhi-Mumbai (DME), Ahmedabad-Delhi, Bengaluru-Chennai, etc., are being built as part of national initiatives (Bharatmala Pariyojana). These are or will be notified as national highways (often given new NH or “NE” numbers) so that the centre can oversee their construction. In land acquisition for these, the NH Act, 1956 was used, which simplifies and centralizes the process. This sometimes led to litigation for example, landowners challenged a new highway project in court questioning if the Centre can take over land for a highway that didn’t exist before. The Supreme Court resolved this by upholding the Centre’s power to create new national highways even on new alignments. The lesson is that calling these projects “expressways” does not remove the need for national highway declaration to leverage central powers and funds.

Conclusion

So, are expressways and national highways the same?

The clear answer is No they refer to different concepts, though they intersect.

A National Highway is a road with a legal status granted by the central government, forming part of an all-India network under central management. An Expressway is a type of road built for high-speed travel, characterized by controlled access and superior design. An expressway may be a national highway (if the central government declares it so), but it might also be a state highway or even a privately operated road under state oversight.

In essence, “national highway” is about administrative jurisdiction and funding, while “expressway” is about road quality and control. The legal truth behind India’s road infrastructure is that the two terms operate on different axes: one in law, one in engineering. Understanding this helps travellers know what to expect and helps professionals appreciate which laws or authorities apply on a given road. Next time you drive on India’s expanding network of expressways and highways, you’ll know that the difference isn’t just semantic it’s built into the very framework of how India plans, builds, and governs its roads.

References: The information in this blog is backed by Indian laws, official policies, and court judgments. Key sources include the National Highways Act, 1956, the Constitution of India, Supreme Court rulings, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways notifications on speed limits, and authoritative explanations of highway standards. These ensure that the distinctions drawn here are not only factual but legally sound and up to date.