Kerala has 145,704 kilometres (90,536 mi) of roads, which accounts

for 4.2% of India's total. This translates to about 4.62 kilometres

(2.87 mi) of road per thousand population, compared to an average of
2.59 kilometres (1.61 mi) in the country. Roads in Kerala include 1,524
kilometres (947 mi) of national highway; 2.6% of the nation's total,
4,341.6 kilometres (2,697.7 mi) of state highway and 18,900
kilometres (11,700 mi) of district roads.[242] Most of Kerala's west coast
is accessible through two national highways, NH 47 and NH 17; and
the eastern side is accessible through state highways.[243] There is also
a hill highway proposed, to provide access to the eastern hills.
[244]
National Highway 17, with the longest stretch of road (421
kilometres (262 mi)) connects Edapally to Panvel; it starts from Kochi
and passes through Kozhikode,
Kannur, Kanhangad, Kasaragod and Uppala before
entering Karnataka.[243] NH 47 runs from Salem to Kanniyakumari
via Coimbatore, Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kochi, Alapuzha, Koll
am, Thiruvananthapuram, and Nagercoil. Palakkad district is generally
referred to as the Gateway of Kerala, due to the presence of the
Palakkad Gap, in the Western Ghats, through which the northern
(Malabar) and southern (Travancore) parts of Kerala are connected to
the rest of India via road and rail. There is the state's largest
checkpoint, Walayar, the border town between Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, through which a large amount of public and commercial
transportation reaches the northern and central districts of Kerala. [245]