UP plans to have largest network of expressways

LUCKNOW: In what is being billed as the ‘connectivity web of Uttar Pradesh’, the Yogi Adityanath government is preparing the blueprint of seven expressways to expand its network of highways to over 1,400 km by 2021.

While the alignments of three e-ways have already been finalized, the UP Expressways and Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has been assigned the task to prepare the plan for remaining four highways.

“UP will soon have the largest network of expressways in the country,” said a UPEIDA official. The expressway development authority, which made headlines for completing the 302-km-long Agra-Lucknow Expressway in a record 26 months, is all set to start work on an even bigger 340 km Purvanchal Expressway in June.

Also in the pipeline is the longest e-way in the country - the 952 kilometre-eight-lane access-controlled highway - connecting Greater Noida to Ballia. “We have worked out the alignment of Bundelkhand, Gorakhpur and Allahabad e-ways and an environment impact assessment study is now underway for obtaining the necessary environment clearances,” said the official. These e-ways would not only provide a seamless ride to commuters but would also change the landscape and lives of inhabitants of the villages it slices through, claimed the official. But, of course, the promised multiple benefits of this world-class infrastructure projects will take time to materialize as their completion deadline is 2021

On completion, the combined length of all these projects is expected to provide a network of over 1,400 km of expressways. Most of these projects would be developed on Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO) and public-private partnership model. The Bundelkhand Expressway will be a four-lane project starting from Jhansi and ending at Etawah, where it will join the existing Agra-Lucknow expressway which passes through Etawah. It will pass through the State’s most backward districts like Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur, Jalaun and Auriya.

Apart from finalizing the drawing of 293-km long Bundelkhand Expressway from Jhansi to Etawah, UPEIDA officials claim to have worked out the alignme nts of 147-km long Bulandshahr to Muzaffarnagar and an 89-km long Gorakhpur link expressway from Azamgarh to CM’s home town Gorakhpur. “While wester n UP has good road connectivity, our focus is to link Southern and Eastern parts of the state,” he said. The proposed expressway starting from Jhansi and connecting Kanpur-Lucknow-Gorakhpur-Kushinagar was a step in this direction. Plans are afoot to develop a similar road link betw een Bijnore-Moradabad and Fat ehgarh and also provide better connectivity between Lucknow Barabanki - Nanpara and Agra Kanpur.