Overview

The Department of Roads (DoR), under Ministry of Works and Human Settlement is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the road network in the country. As Bhutan is a landlocked country, road transport is the dominant mode of transportation for passengers and freight within the country and to the neighbouring states (Assam and West Bengal) of India. At present, Bhutan has a total of 12,000 km of motorable roads. The Border Roads Organization (BRO) under project DANTAK, a subdivision of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, has been operating in Bhutan since May 1961. Since then Project DANTAK has been responsible for the construction and maintenance of over 680 km of roads and bridges, Paro Airport and the airfield at Yangphula, heliports and other infrastructure. While these serve India's strategic defence needs, they are also an obvious economic benefit for the people of Bhutan

Out of the total road network of around 12,000 km, which are composed of the 2,000 km of primary national highways, 650 km of secondary national highways, 350 km of Thromde (a third-level administrative division in Bhutan similar to a municipality under a Mayor) roads and remaining as farm, feeder and access roads. Some 2,500 km of roads are under DoR, about 680 km under Project Dantak, and the balance of remaining roads are under municipal (Thromde), Dzongkhag (national  administration districts) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forest (MoAF).

The Department of Roads (DoR) carries out road routine maintenance works through using national workforce dedicated for the purpose. The approach adopted for the execution of routine maintenance is input based where a fixed number of workforces are dedicated for the maintenance of a given section of the road using a maintenance work norm of 1 workforce per 1 km for national highway, 1 workforce per 1.5 km for district road and 1 workforce per 2 km for feeder road.

Due to its mountainous terrain and fragile topography, roads in Bhutan often get blocked by landslides and mud slides especially during the monsoon season that spans from May to August. Most of the roads are narrow, except some primary highways that are double lane, and large vehicles and trailers cannot pass through.  Sea containers are offloaded at the border town, Phuentsholing and cargo transhipped into smaller trucks for further transportation to the interior of the country.

Except for Thimphu-Phuentsholing, Paro-Thimphu and Thimphu-Wangduephodrang primary national highways, all other roads are only single lane. DoR with assistance from the Government of India and other donors is presently expanding the east–west and Samdrupjongkhar-Trashigang highways. Bypasses are also being constructed at a number of places to shorten the distance of highways. Notable bypasses include:

a)      Damchu-Chukha bypass which will reduce the distance between Thimphu and Phuentsholing by around 19 km.

b)       Chumey-Ura bypass

c)       Wangdigang-Tingtibi bypass.

 For more information on government contact details, please see the following link:

4.1 Bhutan Government Contact List

Distance Matrix

* Route through Indian road.

Road Security 

Generally, there are no security threats related to roads within Bhutan; however roads that pass through Indian borders, especially through the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal can sometimes pose security threats due to demonstrations and strikes. Between 2003-2008, the Government of India used to provide military escort to all Bhutanese vehicles plying these roads due to security threats from ULFA and BODO militants. These escorts were in use up to around 2013, though their use has been reduced or stopped due to the reduction of the threat. 

The Royal Government of Bhutan has accorded high priority to safety, reliability and efficiency of the road transport system; the  existing highways are being widened to allow two vehicles (at least one heavy and one light) to cross each other, safety measures such as crash barriers and reflectors are being installed along accident prone sections of various highways, and sections of existing highways are being realigned to shorten the travel distance and also to avoid landslide prone areas. Existing highway bridges are also being strengthened and replaced with permanent steel or reinforced concrete bridges. DoR has placed machines at strategic locations to clear the road in case of blocks due to landslides and mudslides.

However, general road conditions beyond national highways are poor, and emergency services generally are not available.  Because of the mountainous terrain, roads tend to have steep drop-offs and blind curves.

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits

Department of Revenue and Customs, under the Ministry of Finance operates weighbridges at the border towns. Weighbridges are located at Phuentsholing, Gelephu, Samdrup Jongkhar and Gomtu. There are no privately owned weighbridges in the country. All trucks carrying goods to Bhutan have to be checked at these weighbridges and get at report. These reports are checked and analysed by the Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA). Load limits for various kinds of trucks are mentioned below.

Road Class and Surface Conditions

INSERT RELEVANT maps (as needed) from the WFP GIS Team.