The State Road Fund (SRF) has announced plans to widen roads connecting towns and cities to state expressways in the current fiscal year. It was decided by the Public Works Department (PWD), following a meeting of the SRF management committee, which oversees a corpus of Rs 55 billion. The PWD has identified its priority areas based on this meeting. According to the plan, Rs 30 billion from the sanctioned corpus will be allocated for maintaining the existing road network and pre-approved road projects. The remaining Rs 25 billion will be utilised for widening and strengthening the existing road network. Jitin Prasada, the PWD minister, has instructed officials to explore the possibility of implementing smart city guidelines for building smart roads within key cities and urban centers of the state. AK Jain, the engineer-in-chief and head of the department, mentioned that the department will allocate space for underground ducts and utilities while planning new roads. In addition, the department will instruct engineers working in the field to reassess the entry and exit points of the expressways and examine the width of connecting roads leading to cities, towns, and villages. The necessary repairs and widening of these connecting roads will be determined based on the traffic volume, with a corresponding budget allocated for the work. During high-level meetings, the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority highlighted the issue of low ridership on certain expressways due to inadequate feeder routes from high-speed corridors. This has discouraged vehicle owners from using the expressways in some areas.A senior officer pointed out that, for example, the Talgram exit on the Lucknow-Agra expressway is currently narrow and connects to the Grand Trunk road at a distance. The emphasis is on improving infrastructure around the expressways, as the state anticipates increased industrial, logistics, and warehousing activities in these areas in the coming years. Also read: TMC plans to construct more internal roads with TTD support3 Bidders for Mumbai’s Goregaon – Mulund Link Road Tunnel Project