The Nagpur road plan classified the roads in India based on location and function into the following five categories and described below:

(1) National Highways (NH)

(2) state Highways (SH)

(3) Major District rRads (MDR)

(4) Other District Roads (ODR) and

(5) Village Roads (VR)

1. National Highways (NH) are main highways running through the length and breadth of India, connecting major ports, foreign highways, capitals of large states and large industrial and tourist centers including roads required for strategic movements for the defense of India. It was specified that national highways should be the frame on which the entire road communication should be based and that these highways may not necessarily be of the same specification, but they must give an uninterrupted road communication throughout the country and should connect the entire road network. The responsibility of construction and maintenance of national highways was decided to be with central government.

2. All the national highways are assigned the respective numbers. For example, NH-1 is the national highway connecting Delhi, Ambala, Jalandhar and Amritsar (up to Pakistan border); NH-4 connects Thane, Pune, Bangalore, chittoor, and Chennai. State highways are arterial roads of a state, connecting national highways of the adjacent state, district headquarters and important cities within the state and serve as the main arteries for traffic to and from district roads. These highways are considered as main arteries of commerce by road within a state or a similar geographical unit. In some places, they may even carry heavier traffic than some of the national highways but this will not alter their designation or function. The NH and SH have the same design and speed and geometric design specifications.

3. Major District Roads (MDR) are important roads within a district serving area of production and markets and connecting with other major roads or main highways of a district. The major district roads have low speed and geometric design specifications than NH/SH.

4. Other District Roads (ODR) are roads serving rural areas of production and providing them with outlet market centers, taluk headquarters, block development headquarters or other main roads. These are lower design specifications than MDR.

5. Village Roads (VR) are connecting villages or groups or villages with each other to the nearest road of a higher category. It was specified that these village roads should be in essence farm tracks, but it was desired that the prevalent practice of leaving such tracks to develop and maintain by themselves should be replaced by a plan and for a designed and regulated system.