During the Rana period, there were only roads within the Kathmandu Valley. Diss. As of 2007, the total length of the road is 376 km, while the black road is 5 km. The first road outside the capital city was the Amlekhganj-Bhimphedi road and its length was 42 km.

The southern border of Nepal is connected by the Tribhuvan Rajpath and the northern border by Arani Highway. It has taken almost 4 decades to complete Mahendra Highway, which was opened as a main highway. 

By the beginning of the sixteenth five-year plan, about 100,000 km of roads have been built across Nepal. Out of which, 34 thousand km of roads were built by the federal government and about 66 thousand km of roads were built by the provincial and local levels.

So far, all 77 district headquarters of Nepal have been connected to the national road network. However, roads leading to Humla, Dolpa, Mugu and Manang headquarters have not yet been paved. Out of the total length of 14 thousand 915 km of 80 national highways, only 52 percent of them are paved. 

In 2007, there is a document giving responsibility for road construction and maintenance to Batokaj Goswara, Bahune Adda and Samarjung Company. Diss. After the establishment of the Public Works Department in 2014, the work of road construction was under the same department and in the same year, a separate organization named RTO was formed for the purpose of connecting the north-south trade route. That institution also closed down in 2018. The Department of Public Works itself formulated a plan to build the East-West Highway in 2018 and formulated the first long-term road plan in 2024. 

In the year 2027, the Building Department was separated from the Public Works Department and a new department was established under the name Road Department. After 2027 until 2046, the construction of many highways was started. After the restoration of democracy in 2047, road construction and expansion seems to have been prioritized. The 20-year road plan introduced in 1997 is seen as a successful master plan. By the year 2017, it had achieved more than its goals.

To embody this master plan, Priority Investment Plan I (1997 to 2007) and Priority Investment Plan II (2007 to 2017) were prepared and implemented. As a result, until the beginning of the 20-year road master plan, 17 districts of the then state headquarters were not connected to the national road network, including 2 districts that were added later, all 77 districts have been connected to the national road network. 

In 1997, the total length of roads was 4,740 km, until 2080, the length of roads built by the road department reached 34,000 km. According to the five-year strategic plan (2073-2078) of road, rail and transport development for a prosperous Nepal of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, 3 more east-west highways, 6-lane commercial highway, north-south highway, 4-6 lane highway are being constructed.

Even after 75 years of road infrastructure development has passed, the main problems of not being able to develop road infrastructure according to people's wishes are duplication of work area, problem in project prioritization, preparation of one-off plans and selection of plans without a master plan. Along with this, politicians' interest in Sasan schemes rather than major road infrastructure, the development of a culture of awarding contracts without reliable assurance of resources and payment problems are also factors. In addition, research and development, which should be seen as the heart of any project, has not been taken care of at all. 

government level weak and unstable project management, frequent change of project leaders, and little cooperation with engineering universities are still present in this area.

There are also problems such as the need to raise sufficient resources for road infrastructure development, expansion and maintenance, inter-agency coordination, inability to maintain identity with other modes of transport infrastructure while developing the road infrastructure, not attracting the private sector for investment in road infrastructure construction, poor management and cash flow of construction professionals, construction business not being able to fully take the form of an industry, and there are more construction companies than necessary.

Costs falling far short of the estimate, poor management of many consultants, project time, cost and quality are always question marks are also causing problems.

In foreign investment projects under construction, the condition of the donor body, repeatedly having to get a 'no objection letter', not being able to be freed from the accusation of poor development, the development budget being very low compared to the normal expenditure, tree felling, land acquisition, utility transfer, no scientific land evaluation system, local construction materials not being easily available, not having adequate peace and security arrangements at the project site, donation panic, more monitoring agencies, introduction of new technology, frequent amendments to the Public Procurement Act, etc. This sector is also facing challenges. 

Therefore, it is important to develop road infrastructure in a manner similar to other economic activities. The Public Roads Act should be introduced as soon as possible to clarify the scope of road infrastructure development of the federal, state and local governments. The federal government should focus only on the development and expansion of national highways, road infrastructure development should be done only on the basis of road master plans, priority investment plans, and commercial plans, and the road department should be self-sufficient and free from commercial political intervention, and it should not be delayed to move to an immediate authority model.

Road jurisdiction should be leased or leased to raise investment resources. It is now necessary to strictly implement road development tax and value capture tax, to advance research and development in collaboration with engineering universities, and to develop road infrastructure in a way that it is also identified with other transport infrastructure. 

The existing act/laws should be improved to attract the private sector in road infrastructure expansion using alternative investment methods like hybrid annuity model which have been successful in the world. In order to make road maintenance improvements effective, long-term performance-based maintenance contract system should be implemented and issues such as pedestrians, people with different abilities, wildlife, pets, environmental friendliness and road safety should be given high priority when expanding roads. While designing roads and bridges, the issues such as climate resilience, impact of dams built for hydropower construction and slope stability should not be ignored.