Ganga Expressway opens April 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate Uttar Pradesh’s Ganga Expressway on April 29, opening a 594-km road link from Meerut to Prayagraj. (indianexpress.com) The expressway is six-lane and access-controlled, with the route starting at Bijoli village in Meerut and ending near Judapur Dandu village in Prayagraj, according to government details cited by The Indian Express. (indianexpress.com) Officials say the road will connect 12 districts: Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Raebareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj. The project also links 519 villages along the corridor. (indianexpress.com) The state government says the project was completed in four years at a cost of Rs 36,230 crore. Construction was split into four stretches, with three handled by Adani Infrastructure and one by IRB Infrastructure. (indianexpress.com) (upeida.up.gov.in) The road is designed to compress east-west travel inside Uttar Pradesh, with recent reports saying Meerut-to-Prayagraj trips could fall to roughly six to seven hours from about 10 to 12. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (msn.com) The physical build is large even by expressway standards: 14 long bridges, including a 900-metre bridge over the Ganga in Hapur and a 720-metre bridge over the Ramganga in Badaun, plus seven railway overbridges, 32 flyovers and 453 underpasses. (indianexpress.com) Uttar Pradesh is also using the road as an industrial corridor, not just a transport project. A state statement issued Sunday said 12 industrial nodes are being planned along the route on 6,507 acres. (ndtvprofit.com) That plan has already drawn 987 expressions of interest targeting nearly Rs 47,000 crore in investment, with the state framing the corridor as an Integrated Manufacturing and Logistics Cluster. (ndtvprofit.com) Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority records describe the project as 593.947 km long and built as a six-lane greenfield expressway expandable to eight lanes. The same records show the four concession packages were awarded in December 2021. (upeida.up.gov.in) If the inauguration proceeds on April 29, the Ganga Expressway will become Uttar Pradesh’s longest expressway and a new freight spine running from western Uttar Pradesh to Prayagraj in the east. (indianexpress.com)