Kerala, a state in Southern India, has a network of 11 National Highways, 72 State Highways and many district roads.
Features
Kerala has of roads, which accounts for 5.6% of India's total. This translates to about of road per thousand people, compared to an average of in the country. Roads in Kerala include of national highway; 1.6% of the nation's total, of state highway; 2.5% of the nation's total, of district roads; 4.7% of the nation's total, of urban (municipal) roads; 6.3% of the nation's total, and of rural roads; 3.8% of the nation's total. Most of Kerala's west coast is accessible through the NH 66 (previously NH 17 and 47); and the eastern side is accessible through state highways. New projects for hill and coastal highways were recently announced under KIIFB. National Highway 66, with the longest stretch of road () connects Kanyakumari to Mumbai; it enters Kerala via Talapady in Kasargod and passes through Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Guruvayur, Kochi, Alappuzha, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram before entering Tamil Nadu. Palakkad district is generally referred to as the Gateway of Kerala, due to the presence of the Palakkad Gap in the Western Ghats, through which the northern (Malabar) and southern (Travancore) parts of Kerala are connected to the rest of India via road and rail. The state's largest checkpoint, Walayar, is on NH 544, in the border town between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, through which a large amount of public and commercial transportation reaches the northern and central districts of Kerala. Kottayam has the maximum length of roads among the districts of Kerala, while Wayanad accounts for minimum.
Distribution of roads
Agency-wise by distribution
†NHAI maintains 444.9 km and Kerala PWD (NH) section maintains rest of the National Highways from direction of MORTH
National highways
Kerala has eight National Highways which run for about 1811.52 km. Kerala has narrower National Highways compared to other parts of India. Kerala is the only state, other than Goa, which has requested for narrower highways in the state. NHAI upgrades highways to a minimum 4-lane, 60-meter-wide, grade-separated highway or a better standard across India. But in Kerala, National Highways are being upgraded to 45-meter-wide highways. Previous Kerala State Government had requested the NHAI to reduce the width of National highways in the state to 30-meters, although neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are upgrading their National Highways as 60-meters or more wider highways, with futuristic provision for 6/8-lane highway. The reason cited by the State Government was the difficulty and disinterest in Land Acquisition, which is the responsibility of the State Government. NHAI had stopped working on many of the highway widening/upgrade projects as there are opposition from the local population for highway widening. Among Kerala's districts, Ernakulam has the maximum length of National Highway, which accounts for 172.76 km. Wayanad has the minimum length of National Highway in Kerala.
Government has taken steps to develop the NH 66 (Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram) into six lane. But, proposed six lane highways with 45 m Right of Way in Kerala will not have the wide medians to help the trucks and large vehicles to take the U-Turn without blocking the high speed traffic, which is a common feature in other parts of India. Wider median also helps to block the opposite side vehicle headlamp with plants.
Six-laning of National Highways in Kerala
Kerala's first six lane National Highway is the NH 544 stretch between Thrissur and Vadakkencherry. Kerala's first and biggest six lane tunnel highway is also on this stretch at Kuthiran. It is the part of Kochi -Thrissur-Palakkad- Walayar stretch of NH 544.
Bharatmala Pariyojana has identified 418 km of national highway and State highway stretches in Kerala. Keeping in view a futuristic approach, it has been decided that the land for any 4/6-lane highway road will be acquired with a right of way (RoW) of 60 m irrespective of the width of the carriageway.
Kerala has not been allocated Greenfield 8-lane access-controlled expressways like other south Indian states as part of Bharatmala Pariyojana, as many brownfield projects of NHDP projects have still not started.