National Highway 4, or NH 4, is the major highway in the Indian
union territory
Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...
of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...
. It is 230.7 km in length. This road running from the capital city of
Port Blair
Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headqu ...
to
Diglipur
Diglipur (sometimes spelled Diglipore) is the largest town of North Andaman Island, in the Andaman Archipelago, India. It is located on the southern side of Aerial Bay, at above sea level, north of Port Blair. It is crossed by the Kalpong R ...
connects all the major towns of
Ferrargunj,
Baratang,
Kadamtala,
Rangat, Billiground, Nimbudera and
Mayabunder
Mayabunder is a town and a tehsil in the northern part of Middle Andaman Island, Andaman Archipelago, India. The name is also spelled Maya Bunder or Maya Bandar. As of 2001, the county had 23,912 inhabitants, of which 3182 were in the town.Gov ...
. This highway is known as the Great Andaman Trunk Road.
Prior 1970s to early 1990s transportation of men and goods used to take several days by sea route now can be completed in a matter of 10–12 hours. NH-4 facilitates movement of essential commodities, access to health care facilities, etc. year-round.
ATR passes through the buffer zone of the Jarwa Reserve between Jirkatang to the Middle Strait where laws are in place to minimize traveler contact with the native tribe of
Jarawa. Only vehicle convoys with armed escorts are allowed.
This highway is currently undergoing a major upgrade and construction of two major bridges under
NHIDCL
The National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) is a Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India Government of India, set up in 2014 and is resp ...
of ₹ 1511.22 crores.
Earlier this stretch of highway was numbered as NH-223.
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324152803/http://www.nhai.org/NH4_Mumbai_Chennai_main.htm, date=24 March 2018 Details of National Highways in India-Source-National Highways Authority of India
The National Highways Authority of India or NHAI () is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1995 (Act 1988) and is responsible for management of a road network of over 50,000 km of National highways out of 1,32,499 ...
(NHAI)
A stretch of national highway from Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
to Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
to Hubli
Hubli (officially Hubballi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad district of ...
to Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
to Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
was earlier called NH 4 before renumbering of national highways in 2010. The former NH 4 is now renumbered as NH 48.
See also
* List of national highways in India
On 28 April 2010, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways officially published a new numbering system for the National Highway network in the Gazette of the Government of India. It is a systematic numbering scheme based on the orientatio ...
* National Highways Development Project
The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) was a project of four laning of existing national highways and six laning of selected major national highways of India. The project was started in 1998 under the leadership of Prime Minister of I ...
References
{{reflist
External links
{{commons category, NH 4 (India)
{{maplink, text=Route map, type=line, display=inline,title
NH 4 on OpenStreetMap
{{Indian Highways Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Highway 4
National highways of India
Transport in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
{{India-NH-stub