Historical development

In ancient times the ruling monarchs constructed many brick roads in cities. The most famous highway of medieval India was the Grand Trunk Road. The Grand Trunk Road begins in Sonargaon^[12]near Dhaka, Bangladesh and ends in Peshawar, Pakistan. It travels through several important Indian cities, such as Kolkata, Patna, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Delhi, Panipat, Pipli, Ambala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Amritsar. In the 19th century, the British upgraded the existing highway network, and built roads in treacherous areas such as the Western Ghats.