Why milestones on Indian roads have different colours?

While travelling, you might have seen the coloured milestones on the side of the road, on which the name and the distance of the place are written. It lets us know how far our destination is from a certain point. Usually, the upper part of these stones is painted yellow, black, green or orange while the lower part is painted white.

But do you know why these milestones are in different colours? Although you may not pay special attention to anything other than the distance written on it, let us tell you that these stones of different colours are very useful. The different colours on the milestones are colour codes. The colours reflect the kind of road and highway you are travelling on

Yellow strips

Milestones with yellow strips mean that you are in a National Highway. National highways of India span in more than one state. They provide connectivity between cities of different states.

North-South corridor: Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari,

East-West corridor: Porbandar to Silchar in Assam, and,

Golden Quadrilateral- This connects the four metro cities in India i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, are also part of national highways.

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) maintains the National Highways of the country.

Green strips

Milestones with green strips mean that you are in a state highway. It connects different cities of the state. These highways are built by the state government and the maintenance and upkeeping of the road is also done by the state government.

Blue, black or white strips

Milestones with blue, black or white strips suggest that you are travelling in a city or on a district road. District roads provide connectivity within a district.

The roads are constructed and maintained by the city or district authorities.

Orange strips

Milestones with orange strips mean that you are travelling on a rural road. The orange strip also represents the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.