1. Roads play an important role in carrying goods and passengers for short, medium and long distances.
2. It is highly suitable for short distance services.
3. It is comparatively easy and cheap to construct and maintain roads.
4. Road transport system can establish easy contact between farms, fields, factories and markets and can provide door to door transport services.
5. They are the most universal mode of transport. Indian roads are cost efficient and used by all sections of people in the society.

Trade carried on between two or more countries is called international trade. It is also called as external trade or foreign trade.

Communication is a process that involves exchange of information, thoughts and ideas.
Communication is categorized into
(1) Personal communication and
(2) Mass communication

National Waterway 1: Ganga - Bhagirathi - Hooghly river system
National Waterway 2: Brahmaputra river between Dhubri - Sadiya
National Waterway 3: Kollam - Kottapuram in the state of Kerala.

Pipelines provide a very convenient mode of transport to connect oil and natural gas fields, refineries and to the markets. Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry. The initial cost of laying pipeline is high but subsequent running cost is minimum.

Classification of Roads:
i) National Highways (NH): National Highways form the most important system of road transportation in India.
ii) These highways are connect capitals of states, major Ports, rail junctions, industrial and tourist centres.
iii) The longest National highway is NH - 44, which runs from Srinagar in Jammu Kashmir to Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
iv)The shortest national highway is NH-47A, which runs, from Ernakulum to Kochi port (Willington Island) covering a distance of 6 km.
State Highways:
The state highways are usually roads that link important cities, towns and district headquarters within the state and connect them with national highways or highways of neighboring states. These roads are administered and financed by state governments.
District Roads:
i) District Roads provide connectivity between the district and taluk headquarters with the state highways and national highways.
ii) District Roads are constructed and maintained by the Public Works Department of the states.
Rural Roads:
i) Rural roads connectivity is a key component of rural development. These roads are vital for providing links in the rural areas. It links the different villages with their neighboring towns.
ii) They are maintained by Village Panchayats.
Border Roads:
i) These are the roads of strategic importance in border areas.
ii) They are constructed and maintained by Border Roads Organization. It was established in 1960 for the development of the roads in the northern and northeastern border areas.
iii) Border Roads Organization has constructed world's highest road joining Chandigarh and Leh in Ladakh.
Golden Quadrilateral Roads:
Golden Quadrilateral 5,846 km long road of 4/6. lanes connects, India's the four metropolitan
cities Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.
Expressways:
i) These roads are multilane good quality road for high speed traffic.
Eg: Mumbai - Pune road.
International Highways:
These roads link India with neighboring countries for promoting harmonious relationship with them.