India has the second-largest road network in the world, spanning a total of 5.89 million kilometres (kms). The road network transports 64.5% of all goods in the country and 90% of India’s total passenger traffic uses the road network to commute. Road transportation has gradually increased over the years with improvement in connectivity between cities, towns and villages in the country. Government is giving utmost priority to the development of infrastructure and has set a target of road construction worth Rs15 lakh crores in next two years.
Roads infrastructure affects both biotic and the abiotic components of ecosystem by changing the dynamics of populations of plants and animals, altering flows of materials in the landscape, introducing exotic elements, and changing levels of available resources, such as water, light and nutrients.