The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has drawn ambitious plans for the construction of highways in Uttar Pradesh. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will undertake new highway projects worth more than Rs 150 bn to accelerate cargo and passenger movement in UP. Several districts, including Kanpur, Bareilly, Barabanki, Bahraich, Agra, Aligarh, and Gorakhpur are to be benefitted from these projects, which will be undertaken in addition to the ongoing highways and expressway projects. “While the detailed project report (DPR) of some of these projects is ready, the bidding process of others is in varying stages of completion,” a UP official said, adding that the outlay for such projects was to the tune of Rs 15,500 crore. Meanwhile, the highly-anticipated Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway that the NHAI is constructing is set to be completed by July 2025. It will offer seamless connectivity between the industrial town of Kanpur Nagar and the state capital Lucknow – the twin cities that have been facing major traffic congestion. An airstrip has also been developed on the Ganga Expressway to facilitate emergency landings and take off of the Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft. Currently, the Agra-Lucknow and Purvanchal expressways offer such facilities. UP will boast nine access-controlled expressways after the completion of the Ganga Expressway, which criss-crosses 12 districts of the state, and the 91-km Gorakhpur Link Expressway. The total length of the expressways in UP would exceed 1,900km. The state currently accounts for roughly 47 per cent of the country’s composite length of expressways. Some functional expressways include the Yamuna Expressway, the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, the Purvanchal Expressway and the Bundelkhand Expressway. The state government is also working on rural road connectivity for faster movement of farm and dairy produce from villages to cities, and major food processing centres for boosting rural income.