Siddhartha Highway
Siddhartha Highway, or NH47 is a major highway in Nepal that connects the Terai region in southern Nepal with the mountain region in northern Nepal. The highway starts at the Nepal–India border near Siddharthanagar and terminates at Pokhara. It intersects with the east–west Mahendra Highway at Butwal.
Construction of the highway was started in 1964 and completed in 1971. It was inaugurated by King Birendra on 9 May 1972 in Pokhara. Built with Indian financial assistance, the highway consists of about 34 bridges with the longest bridge over the Kali Gandaki River in Ramdi. The highway takes its name from Siddhartha Gautam.
Route description
The length of the highway is. The major settlements on the highway are Siddharthanagar, Butwal, Tansen, Waling, Putalibazar, Syangja and Pokhara.The Butwal–Palpa section of this road consists of rocky terrain and frequent rock-fall which sometimes causes fatal accidents.
The road is considered among the five busiest highways in Nepal. It is mainly used for transportation of food and agricultural products. People who want to travel to Pokhara generally do not use this highway because of the large number of narrow curves and the poor quality of the road.