National Highway 78 links
Katni in
Madhya Pradesh with
Gumla in
Jharkhand. This 559 km-long stretch spans across the states of Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and passes through some prominent cities and towns on the way.
National Highway 78 starts at Katni and runs south-east through Umaria, Pali, Shahdol and Anuppur and across the Son River to enter Chhattisgarh. The highway is 178 km-long in Madhya Pradesh.
In Chhattisgarh, Mahendragarh is the first major settlement that lies along the National Highway 78. It is hardly 10 km inside the state’s boundary with Madhya Pradesh. National Highway 78 then moves eastwards through Baikunthpur, Surajpur and Jainagar, turns southwards at Ambikapur and covers another 93 km to reach Pathalgaon near Bakaruma. From Pathalgaon, the highway becomes north-east bound and passes through Bandarchua and Raikera, before entering Jharkhand past Rupsera. National Highway 78 covers more than 60% of its length in Chhattisgarh.
In Jharkhand, National Highway 78 is just 25 km-long. It enters the state near Raidih and runs past Nawagarh to terminate at Gumla, the administrative headquarters of Gumla District.
