Roads, Highways, Airports and Connectivity

Detailed chapter description

Chapter 124 treats transport connectivity as productive infrastructure because it changes the economic meaning of distance. In Mithila, Vajji and Anga, the decisive obstacles are not only kilometres between settlements but rivers, floodplains, weak approach roads, congestion, interrupted public transport and the mismatch between trunk corridors and the first or last mile. A bridge over the Kosi or Ganga can therefore alter a far larger market geography than its own length suggests. An airport can shrink inter-city time dramatically while leaving remote passengers with a long road journey to the terminal. The proper historical question is not how much concrete was laid, but which journeys became reliably shorter, safer and cheaper, for whom, and with what effects on markets, migration, health, education, tourism and investment. The chapter uses dated infrastructure milestones rather than treating all announced projects as completed assets. The 8.15-km Aunta–Simaria project on NH-31, including a 1.86-km six-lane Ganga bridge, was inaugurated on 22 August 2025 and officially described as removing more than 100 km of heavy-vehicle detour between parts of North and South Bihar. By contrast, the 13.3-km Bheja–Bakaur Kosi bridge was still described by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in December 2025 as being in the final stage of completion, with completion scheduled for financial year 2026–27 and an expected 44-km reduction in travel distance. These cases demonstrate why economic history must distinguish inauguration, construction progress, opening to traffic and full network functionality. Air connectivity has also changed rapidly but unevenly. Civil flights from Darbhanga began under the Regional Connectivity Scheme in 2020, while a much larger new civil enclave was founded in October 2024 and remained under operationalisation work in 2026. Purnea's interim civil enclave terminal was inaugurated on 15 September 2025 and the first commercial flight was flagged off the same day, placing Seemanchal on the scheduled aviation map. Across the border, Janakpur Airport's new terminal was inaugurated in December 2020 and serves the religious, commercial and family-mobility economy of Madhesh and Mithila. These airports form a regional network only when surface access, schedules, fares, baggage systems, weather reliability and onward connections work together.