Siddhartha Highway
Siddhartha Highway or Siddhartha Rajmarg is a major highway of Nepal connecting Terai region in Southern Nepal with Mountain region in the Northern Nepal. The highway starts at Nepal-India border near Siddharthanagar and Pokhara and intersects with east-west Mahendra Highway at Butwal.
The highway construction was started in 1964AD and completed in 1971AD. The highway consists of about 34 bridges with the longest bridge over the Kali Gandaki river in Galyang. The highway takes its name from Siddhartha Gautam (Gautama Buddha). The highway was funded by the government of India.
Alignment
The length of highway is 181Km[1]. The major settlement on the highway are Siddharthanagar, Butwal, Tansen, Waling, Putalibazar, Syangja and Pokhara, etc.
The Butwal-Palpa section of this road consists of rocky terrain and frequent rock-fall which sometimes causes fatal accidents.[2]
Traffic
The road is considered among top 5 busiest highway in Nepal. The road is mainly used for transportation of food and agricultural products.
People who want to travel to Pokhara generally do not use this highway because of large number of narrow curves and poor quality of road.
- ^ http://www.dor.gov.np/national_highways.php
- ^ GNYAWALI, KAUSHAL RAJ (2011). "A Minor Study on Rockfall in the Siddhababa Section of Siddhartha Highway Nepal".
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