Purvanchal Expressway: PM Modi to lay foundation stone of India’s longest expressway; 5 things to know

Purvanchal Expressway: On July 14, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a big infrastructure project – the Purvanchal Expressway, the longest in India. The Purvanchal Expressway, which is 354 km long will connect Lucknow to Ghazipur. Interestingly, on December 22, 2016, the foundation stone for the same expressway was laid by then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav but during that time even half of the land for the project had not been acquired. After the current government came into power, the earlier project tender was cancelled citing lack of land as the reason. Now, the project has been revived again with certain changes in the alignment. Here are 5 important things that you should know about the new Purvanchal Expressway:

1) The Purvanchal Expressway will be the longest expressway of the nation. It will originate from Chand Sarai of District Lucknow and will end at Haidaria of District Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. Additionally, the expressway will also be linked with Varanasi through a separate link road.

2) The Purvanchal Expressway is likely to provide many benefits like control in pollution level, time-saving, fuel saving, along with reduction in accidents. Also, the travel time is expected to reduce to four-and-a-half to five hours.

3) The Purvanchal Expressway will provide seamless connectivity to 9 districts of Uttar Pradesh- Lucknow, Ghazipur, Amethi, Azamagarh, Faizabad, Barabanki, Mau, Ambedkarnagar and Sultanpur. Additionally, it will also connect them to the National Capital via 165 km long Agra-Greater Noida Yamuna Expressway and 302 km long Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

4) The Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh, which is being built on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode, will be expandable to eight lanes.

5) After getting connected with the existing Agra-Lucknow Expressway, the project shall become a vast industrial corridor. This will connect Eastern boundary of UP to Western boundary of UP, which will result into overall development of the state.