The 341-km Purvanchal Expressway at KarwalKheri in Sultanpur district, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16 November 2021, Tuesday, is one of the biggest completed infrastructure projects by the Uttar Pradesh government. Prime Minister Modi landed at the airstrip in a C-130 Hercules plane for the inauguration on Tuesday. The launch came almost 3 years after the prime minister laid its foundation stone in Azamgarh in July 2018. Details of Purvanchal ExpresswayThe infrastructure project, which is one of the biggest completed by the Uttar Pradesh government and cost an estimated Rs 22,496 crore, has been billed as the “carrier of development” to the underdeveloped Purvanchal region. The expressway starts from Chandsarai village in the district of Lucknow located on the Lucknow-Sultanpur Road and ends at Haidaria village on National Highway 31 in Ghazipur district. It is currently a six-lane wide highway and can be expanded to eight-lane in the future. With the development of this Expressway, the Eastern region of the state would not only be connected to the state capital but also further to the National Capital. Through Agra-Lucknow & Yamuna Expressway. There are 18 flyovers, 7railwayover bridges (ROB), seven long bridges, 104 minor bridges, 13 interchanges and 271 underpasses on the highway that covers the districts of Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur. The 341-kilometer-long expressway will reduce the travel time between Lucknow to Buxar in Bihar from seven hours to nearly four hours. Once it is opened to the public, the travel time from Lucknow to Ghazipur will be reduced from 6 hours to 3.5 hours. It establishes a direct link between the NCR and eastern Uttar Pradesh till almost the Bihar border.The Purvanchal Expressway will end about 18 km from the UP-Bihar border. Being an Access Controlled Expressway, it would provide benefits like fuel-saving, time saving and Control in Pollution level, along with reduction in accidents. Project was divided into 8 packages for implementation. Industrial Training Institutes, Educational Institutes, Medical Institutes, New Townships and other various Commercial set ups shall be developed, especially near the Expressway areas, which will result into more opportunities for employment in the region. The overall social/economic development in the state will get a boost. It will strengthen road connectivity across the eastern regions of U.P. The Expressway will prove to be a catalyst for development of the region and State. It will serve as the backbone of Purvanchal Region.