Instead of taking the high road, this determined dad decided to build his own.

Indian father Jalandhar Nayak is being hailed for spending the last two years carving out a 5-mile road through the hilly terrain of Odisha just so his children would have an easier time getting to school.

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His three sons used to spend six hours every day walking from their village of Gumsahi to their school in Phulbani. Upon seeing his kids stumble down the treacherous route, the 45-year-old vegetable seller grabbed a chisel, a pickax, and a garden hoe so he could carve out a less perilous path.

Nayak was recently featured in a news segment that attracted the eyes of local government officials who were impressed by the man’s progress. They then contacted Nayak and said that they would be more than happy to finish the last four miles of the road in his honor.

Nayak has since been compared to Dashrath Manjhi: a man who spent 22 years carving a tunnel through a mountain so his villagers wouldn’t have to travel 43 miles just to get to the nearest hospital. By the time Manjhi finished the tunnel (using only hand tools), the commute was slashed to a 1-mile journey through the 300-foot mountain.

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