NH 19
Agra–Kolkata Highway
Also known as National Highway 2 (old numbering, Agra–Kolkata section) and Grand Trunk Road
1,270 km
Open
4 states
National Highway
Route
NH 19 runs 1,270 km from Agra, Uttar Pradesh to Dankuni (near Kolkata), West Bengal.
Crosses Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Through Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Sasaram, Dhanbad, Asansol, Durgapur and Kolkata.
Why it matters
NH 19 is the modern Grand Trunk Road, running through the most crowded part of India. It links the big cities of the Ganga plain, the pilgrim towns of Prayagraj and Varanasi, and the coalfields of Jharkhand and Bengal, and it carries a huge share of the goods moving between Delhi and Kolkata. Millions of people who live in the towns strung along it treat the highway as their main street.
History
NH 19 follows one of the oldest road corridors in Asia: the Grand Trunk Road, used for well over two thousand years and rebuilt in the 1540s by the emperor Sher Shah Suri. In modern times it was the eastern part of NH 2, and in the 2010 renumbering the Agra–Kolkata stretch became NH 19 while the Delhi–Agra leg went to NH 44. It carries most of the Delhi–Kolkata side of the Golden Quadrilateral through the crowded Gangetic plain, linking Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi before crossing the coalfields of Jharkhand into West Bengal. Long bypasses now swing the highway around the biggest cities, and the last 65 km into the Kolkata area is the six-lane Durgapur Expressway. Newer expressways such as the Yamuna and Agra–Lucknow expressways have pulled away some of the fast car traffic, but NH 19 is still the main lorry road between Delhi and Kolkata.
Good to know
- Follows the historic Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia's oldest and longest road corridors.
- Forms most of the Delhi–Kolkata arm of the Golden Quadrilateral — about 1,270 km of it — while NH 44 carries the Delhi–Agra leg.
- Part of Asian Highway 1, which runs from Japan to the Turkey–Bulgaria border.
- Begins at Agra, where it splits from NH 44, India's longest highway.
- Crosses the Ganga's plain past four of Uttar Pradesh's biggest cities: Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi.
- Crosses the Son river at Dehri-on-Sone on the Jawahar Setu, a road bridge about 3 km long.
- Its last stretch into the Kolkata area is the 65 km six-lane Durgapur Expressway.
- At the Agra end it connects with the Yamuna Expressway from Greater Noida and the Agra–Lucknow Expressway.
Timeline
- 1540sSher Shah Suri rebuilds the ancient route as the Sadak-e-Azam, later known as the Grand Trunk Road
- 2001Four-laning begins under the Golden Quadrilateral project
- 2010The Agra–Kolkata stretch of the old NH 2 becomes NH 19; the Delhi–Agra leg goes to NH 44
- 2012Golden Quadrilateral programme declared substantially complete
Key junctions
- Agra — western end, splitting from NH 44; the Yamuna Expressway and the Agra–Lucknow Expressway also meet the city
- Kanpur — crosses NH 27, the long east–west highway
- Varanasi — a big ring road takes through traffic around the city and links several highways
- Barhi — meets NH 20, the road south through Hazaribagh to Ranchi
- Govindpur (Dhanbad) — NH 18 branches south towards Jamshedpur and the Odisha coast
- Dankuni — eastern end, joining the roads into Kolkata and NH 16 towards Chennai
Engineering highlights
- Jawahar Setu, Dehri-on-Sone — about 3 km long, it carries the Grand Trunk Road over the wide Son river in Bihar
- Durgapur Expressway — the 65 km six-lane run from Palsit to Dankuni that brings the highway into the Kolkata area
- City bypasses — long bypasses now take through traffic around Kanpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi instead of through them
On the road
Agra to Kolkata is about 1,270 km, roughly 24 hours of driving, so most people break it over two days and often stop at Varanasi. Thick winter fog in December and January makes the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar stretches genuinely dangerous in the early morning. Lorry traffic is heavy day and night, the GT Road dhabas are a road-trip tradition in themselves, and toll plazas come along every 50–60 km, so keep a FASTag topped up.
What’s coming next
- The Varanasi–Kolkata Expressway, about 610 km long, is being built to take long-distance traffic off the eastern half of NH 19.
- Six-laning and extra bypasses are being added in stages on the busiest sections.
More details
- Lanes
- Mostly 4–6 lanes, divided carriageway