Many scholars refer to the Grand Trunk Road as the Silk Road because it is one of the longest roads connecting the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia. It runs for approximately 2400 kilometres from Teknaf, Bangladesh, to Kabul, Afghanistan. This long road has a fascinating history that dates back to Chandragupta II, who built it as Uttarapatha. Given its importance for connectivity and communication, many major rulers and emperors have renovated it since then. Sher Shah Suri, a Pathan who ruled Hindostan for five years until 1545, was one of them.

The roads were widened and realigned this time, with fruit and shade trees on either side of the road. Perhaps Sher Shah's goal was not only to improve connectivity but also to provide travellers with a safe and attractive public mode of transportation. The ruler did not stop there, he constructed sarais (travelling hostels) every few kilometres. Those who stayed in sarais during their journey were said to have received free food. Hindus and Muslims were given separate rooms. Meals were also prepared separately, taking into account the needs of the traveller.

According to Abbas Khan, Sher Shah made a rule to the effect that "whoever came to the sarai was to be served food out of government money according to one's rank, and his pony was given grain and drink."

Gardens were also constructed along major highways. All of these advancements were made with the safety of travellers in mind, as well as the transition to more comfortable journeys. Sher Shah, in addition to the Grand Trunk Road, aided in the construction of other road networks, such as those connecting Lahore and Multan, Agra and Mandu, and Agra and Chittor. All of these road networks aided trade and commerce by providing easy connectivity.

The British were the first to recognise the road's immense significance after Sher Shah. They were the ones who gave it the moniker "Grand Trunk Road." Fascinated by its beauty and grandeur Rudyard Kipling, the poet of the imperial era, wrote about the GT Road in his novel, Kim: "Look! Look again! and chumars, bankers and tinkers, barbers and bunnias, pilgrims – and potters – all the world going and coming. It is to me as a river from which I am withdrawn like a log after a flood. And truly the Grand Trunk Road is a wonderful spectacle. It runs straight, bearing without crowding India’s traffic for fifteen hundred miles – such a river of life as nowhere else exists in the world."

Among Sher Shah's many notable accomplishments, his attempt to rebuild and renovate one of Asia's longest road routes speaks highly of his glorious vision and journeys. With his Sher-like qualities, he managed to permanently stamp his name in history during his brief reign.