Facts About G.T. Road( The Historic 2500-Km-Long Route That Connects Four Countries)

Rudyard Kipling, gave the best description of the Grand Trunk Road

"And truly the Grand Trunk Road is a wonderful spectacle. It runs straight, bearing without crowding India’s traffic for fifteen hundred miles—such a river of life as nowhere else exists in the world."

Truly, this road continues to be a “river of life” for the peoples of four of the world’s most populated countries Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. 

1. A part of the current route spanning the Grand Trunk Road was in existence during the Maurya Empire (322-185 BCE).
2. It was then known as Uttarapatha (Road toward the North).
3. In the Mauryan times, the road stretched from the mouth of the Ganges at Tamluk in Bengal to Balkh in modern-day Afghanistan.
4. It is trusted that authorities were delegated by Chandragupta Maurya solely to regulate the maintenance of the road.
5. Sher Shah Suri was the original architect of what is now known as the complete stretch of the G.T. Road.
6. His objective was to facilitate trade during his reign and connect his hometown, Sasaram in Bihar, to Agra, his capital.
7. The road was renamed Sadak-e-Azam (Great Road).
8. Sher Shah had trees planted on both sides of the road and built sarais (inns) for travelers.
9. He also constructed wells for travellers along the Taxila section of the road.
10. The Mughals extended the eastern point of the road to Chittagong (in Bangladesh).
11. They extended the western point to Kabul.
12. Lord William Bentinck initiated the improvement of the road, which was later renamed as ‘Grand Trunk Road’.
13. The British connected Howrah and Peshawar to the stretch.
14. The total length of the G.T. Road is 2500 kms.
15. Wagah border post is the westernmost point of the G.T. Road’s India section.
16. The G.T. Road between Delhi and Kolkata is the NH2, a part of India’s Golden Quadrilateral road network.
17. The westernmost point in Pakistan is Landi Kotal.
18. Jalalabad–Kabul Road, which is the end section of the G.T. Road, is also its most dangerous stretch.
19. Howrah, Dhanbad, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Ludhiana, and Amritsar, are some of the major cities the G.T. Road passes through.
20. This is how the British constructed the G.T. Road.