Grand Trunk Road
Grand Trunk Road (Howrah–Bandel)
Also known as GT Road and Sadak-e-Azam
50 km
Open
West Bengal
City road
Route
Grand Trunk Road runs 50 km from Bandel, West Bengal to Howrah, West Bengal.
Crosses West Bengal.
Through Bandel, Hugli-Chuchura, Bhatpara, Serampore, Bally, Kolkata and Howrah.
Why it matters
The Grand Trunk Road is the oldest continuously used long-distance road in South Asia, and this is the stretch where it reaches the Bengal delta. It is also the main street of the string of old mill towns north of Howrah.
History
This is the Bengal end of the Grand Trunk Road, the highway Sher Shah Suri rebuilt in the sixteenth century between Bengal and the north-west, and which the British later called the Grand Trunk Road. The stretch here runs up the west bank of the Hooghly from Howrah through Bally, Serampore, Chandannagar and Chinsurah to Bandel — past the Danish, French, Dutch and Portuguese river settlements that all sat along it before the British took Calcutta.
Good to know
- Part of the Grand Trunk Road, one of the oldest and longest roads in Asia.
- Rebuilt in the sixteenth century under Sher Shah Suri, who ruled north India for five years.
- It passes Serampore (Danish), Chandannagar (French) and Chinsurah (Dutch) — the European river settlements of Bengal.
- Bandel, at its northern end, holds a Portuguese church founded in 1599.
- The road runs along the west bank of the Hooghly, opposite Kolkata.
On the road
Narrow and slow through the old towns — this is a high street for most of its length, not a highway. NH 19 is the road to take if you are going any distance.
More details
- Lanes
- 4 lanes, narrowing through the old towns