Foundation for the country's longest access-controlled six lane express-way between Agra and Lucknow was laid here Sunday with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav expressing confidence the over 300-km-long route would be completed in 22 months.
The 110-metre-wide express-way will pass through Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiyya, Kannauj, Kanpur city, Unnao, Hardoi and Lucknow.
Inaugurating the ambitious Rs.15,000 crore project which would be funded by the state government's own resources, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said the project would unleash a new wave of development and prosperity in the state.
Unveiling the logo, Akhilesh Yadav said that he was hopeful that people along the alignment of the expressway as well as people of the state would benefit by the project, once complete.
He later said the mega project would be completed in 22 months.
In a Facebook post, he wrote "Today we placed the foundation stone for the Agra Lucknow Expressway. The 302 kilometre, 6 lane expandable to 8 lanes expressway will increase the speed of the state's development. Four mandis will be connected to the expressway to allow farmers easier access to customers. This expressway will connect Lucknow with Delhi via Agra."
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At the foundation-stone laying, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) CEO Navnet Sehgal said that with the foundation laying of the project, work at five places - Lucknow, Unnao, Firozabad, Kannauj and Agra - had begun.
He also said that in a short span of six months more than 7,000 acres had been acquired and assured that the project would be completed in the next 22 months.
The travel time from end to end would be four hours, while the speed limit on it would be 120 km per hour, he said.
The project, beginning at village Etmadpur Madra in Agra and concluding at village Sarosa-Bharosa at Mohan road in Lucknow, will have a divided carriage way, interchanges for main traffic, tolled expressway, underpasses for cattle and pedestrians, service roads, green belt provisions, rest houses, petrol pumps, service centres, and eateries on both sides.
The construction would be carried out in five packages.
The expressway is also planned to be connected with the Yamuna Expressway thus reducing travelling time between Lucknow and Delhi by at least three hours.