Roads in Nepal are classified as follows:
A. Administrative Classification
Administrative classification of roads is intended for assigning national importance and level of government responsible for overall management and methods of financing. According to this classification roads are classified into:
National Highways
Feeder Roads
District Roads and
Urban Roads
National Highways
National Highways are main roads connecting East to West and North to South of the Nation. These serve directly the greater portion of the longer distance travel, provide consistently higher level of service in terms of travel speeds, and bear the inter-community mobility. These roads shall be the main arterial routes passing through the length and breadth of the country as a whole. They are designated by letter „H‟ followed by a two-digit number.
Feeder Roads
Feeder roads are important roads of localized nature. These serve the community’s wide interest and connect District Headquarters, Major economic centres, Tourism centres to National Highways or other feeder roads. They are designated by letter „F‟ followed by 3-digit number.
District Roads
District Roads are important roads within a district serving areas of production and markets, and connecting with each other or with the main highways.
Urban Roads
Urban Roads are the roads serving within the urban municipalities.
In Nepal the overall management of National Highways and Feeder Roads comes within the responsibility of the Department of Roads (DOR). These roads are collectively called Strategic Roads Network (SRN) roads. District Roads and Urban Roads are managed by Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads (DOLIDAR). These roads are collectively called Local Roads Network (LRN) roads.
B.Technical/ Functional Classification**
For assigning various geometric and technical parameters for design, roads are categorized into classes as follows:
Class –I
Class I roads are the highest standard roads with divided carriageway and access control (Expressways) with ADT of 20,000 PCU or more in 20 yrs perspective period.
Design speed adopted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 120 km/h.
Class II
Class II roads are those with ADT of 5000-20000 PCU in 20 yrs perspective period.
Design speed adopted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 100 km/h.
Class III
Class III roads are those with ADT of 2000-5000 PCU in 20 yrs perspective period.
Design speed adopted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 80 km/h
Class IV
Class IV roads are those with ADT of less than 2000 PCU in 20 yrs perspective period.
**Approximate equivalence with road classification in other countries is as follows:
class I roads correspond to expressways
class II –to arterial roads
class III-to collector roads
class IV-to local roads
Design speed adopted for design of this class of roads in plain terrain is 60 km/h
Design parameters for various classes of roads are given in Table 24-1.
For the design of roads the class of the road is taken as the basic deciding factor, which is ascertained based on the traffic volume on the road. But an approximate correlation can be established between the administrative and functional classifications of the roads as follows in Table 3-1.
