Question

Which is the shortest national highway in India?
a.NH 47
b.NH 548
c.NH 47B
d.NH 44

Answer 1

Hint: The shortest highway in India connects Navi Mumbai to national highway 348 in Maharashtra state and spans across a length of 5 kilometres.

Complete Step by Step answer: The highways in the question are of importance from different perspectives.
Let’s look at our options one by one:
a. NH 47 - The national highway 47 is a long highway which connects Salem district in Tamil Nadu to Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. However, it does not run across Tamil Nadu but takes a route through Kerala to reach Kanyakumari, increasing its length significantly. It's total length is 640 km. So, it is an incorrect option.
b. NH 548 - This national highway has its north end in Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai and its south end on the NH 348. This spans a length of 3 miles (5 kilometres) and is regarded as only half a highway. So, it is the correct option.
c. NH 47B - The national highway 47B is another short highway in India which connects Nagercoil district of Tamil Nadu to the district of Kavalkinaru. It spans for a length of 18 km. So, it is an incorrect option.
d. NH 44 - The national highway 44 is the longest highway in India running from North to South. It runs for a distance of 3806 km from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. It runs through 10 states and is joined by several other national highways. It was formed by merging 7 different national highways. So, it is an incorrect option.

 Note: The National Highway 47A was earlier the shortest highway in India as it connected only two towns, within the district of Kochi in Kerala. It runs from Kudannoor to Willingdon Island for a distance of just 6 km. It is now known as NH 966B. Besides NH548 , NH118 is also the shortest highway ( 5km ) which connects Asanbani & Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.