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.[1]
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,[2]Chikkaballapur, Devanahalli, Bangalore, Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli terminating at Kanyakumari.[3]
Delhi (Shaheed Captain Vikram Batra Chowk) to Panipat 70 km section is being upgraded also known as Delhi-Panipat Expressway,[4] at the cost of ₹2,178.82 crores, to an elevated tolled expressway with 8 main lane and 4 (2+2) service lanes, which was completed in July 2023.[5][6][7] The NH-44 road between Salem and Thoppur in Tamil Nadu is very much prone to fatal accidents due to the poor road design in the hilly slopes.[8] Agra-Gwalior section of this highway is part of the legendary AB Road(Agra-Bombay Road).