National Highway 44 (NH 44) is a major north–south National Highway in India and is the longest in the country.

It passes through the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.

It came into being by merging seven national highways, in full or part, starting with the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway (former NH 1A) from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, former NH 1 in Punjab and Haryana ending at Delhi, part of former NH 2 starting from Delhi and ending at Agra, former NH 3 (popularly known as Agra-Bombay National Highway) from Agra to Gwalior, former NH 75 and former NH 26 to Jhansi, and former NH 7 via Lakhnadon, Seoni, Nagpur, Adilabad, Nirmal, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Anantapur,Chikkaballapur, Devanahalli, Bangalore, Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Kovilpatti and Tirunelveli terminating at Kanyakumari.

The 70 km Delhi-to-Panipat section, also known as Delhi-Panipat Expressway, is being upgraded, at a cost of ₹2,178.82 crores, to an elevated tolled expressway with 8 (4+4) main lanes and 4 (2+2) service lanes, which was completed in July 2023. The NH-44 road between Salem and Thoppur in Tamil Nadu is prone to fatal accidents due to the hilly slopes. Agra-Gwalior section of this highway is part of the legendary AB Road(Agra-Bombay Road).

Route The highway starts from Srinagar at a junction with NH 1. NH 44 covers the North-South Corridor of NHDP and it is officially listed as running over from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. It is the longest national highway in India.

+ Route length in states and UTs States/UTs Total length in State/UT Junctions Destinations Other Cities CoveredJammu and Kashmir 5 in Srinagar Srinagar (The Starting point) in Anantnag in Anantnag in Domel in Jammu Himachal Pradesh 0 The route runs parallel to Chakki River.Punjab 4 in Pathankot Mukerian in Jalandhar in Ludhiana in RajpuraHaryana 7 in Ambala Kurukshetra, Faridabad in Ambala in Karnal in Panipat in Sonipat in Kundli and in Dholagarh in PalwalDelhi 4 in New Delhi in New Delhi in New Delhi in New DelhiUttar Pradesh 3 in Agra Vrindavan, Mathura, Lalitpur, Kosi Kalan in Jhansi in Jhansi Rajasthan 1 in Dholpur Madhya Pradesh 1 in Seoni Gwalior, Sagar, Narsinghpur, Lakhnadon, SeoniMaharashtra 11 in Mansar Nagpur, Hinganghat, Pandharkawda in Amdi in Kamptee in Nagpur in Nagpur in Jamtha in Butibori in Jamb in Hinganghat in Wadki in KaranjiTelangana 5 in Nirmal Adilabad, Kamareddy, Jadcherla, Mahbubnagar in Nizamabad in Hyderabad in Hyderabad in HyderabadAndhra Pradesh 4 in Kurnool Kurnool,Anantpur in Dhone in Gooty in AnantpurKarnataka 5 in Chikkaballapur Chikkaballapur in Bangalore in Bangalore in Bangalore in BangaloreTamil Nadu 14 in Hosur Virudhunagar, Namakkal in Krishnagiri in Dharmapuri in Salem in Salem in Karur in Dindigul in Dindigul in Madurai in Thirumangalam in Tirunelveli near Nagercoil in Kanyakumari

Bengaluru–Hosur Road

Bengaluru–Hosur Road of this highway connects Bengaluru, the capital of the state of Karnataka, and the city of Hosur, in the Krishnagiri district on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is a four- to six-lane highway which also has service lanes on either sides at the busier parts. Apart from being a part of the National Highway, the road is also significant because it consist of many industrial and IT business houses. The IT industrial park Electronic City is also located alongside Hosur Road.

The National Highways Authority of India has constructed a elevated highway between Bommanahalli and Electronic City. This toll road has made travel to Electronic City a lot faster. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the Bengaluru Development Authority have planned a series of flyovers and underpasses to make this arterial road signal-free.

Expansion On 11 March 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for five projects in the state, including the work to improve the Thoppur Pass on the Dharmapuri - Salem section of National Highway-44.The work is to be undertaken at a cost of Rs 905 crore, and a 4 km long elevated highway is being constructed on the existing road, which will facilitate safe travel in the accident-prone Thoppur Ghat section.

Tunnels T5 Tunnel: On 16 March 2023, the National Highways Authority of India Thursday opened for traffic T5 tunnel, a 870-metre tunnel that bypasses landslide-prone stretch of the mountainous road between Panthial and Magerkote, on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district.

Primary destinations - Srinagar – Udhampur - Jammu – Kathua (Jammu and Kashmir) – Pathankot - Mukerian – Jalandhar – Ludhiana (Punjab) – Ambala – Kurukshetra – Panipat – Sonipat (Haryana) – Delhi (Delhi) – Faridabad – Palwal (Haryana) – Mathura – Agra (UP) – Dholpur (Rajasthan)

- Morena - Gwalior (MP) – Jhansi – Lalitpur (UP) – Sagar – Narsinghpur – Lakhnadon – Seoni (MP) – Nagpur – Hinganghat (Maharashtra) – Adilabad – Nirmal – Nizamabad- Kamareddy – Hyderabad – Jadcherla (Telangana) – Kurnool – Dhone – Anantapur (AP) – Chikkaballapur – Devanahalli – Bangalore – Hebbagodi – Attibele (Karnataka) – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem – Karur – Dindigul – Madurai – Tirunelveli – Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu)

Notes A major stretch of NH 44 from Lakhnadon to Kanyakumari () has been selected as a part of the North-South Corridor by the National Highways Development Project. Approximately stretch of NH 44 between Bengaluru and Krishnagiri has been selected as a part of the Golden Quadrilateral also by the National Highways Development Project.

See also List of national highways in India National Highways Development Project NH 138

References

External links NH 44 on OpenStreetMap