- The 594-km Ganga Expressway will connect Meerut and Prayagraj, cutting travel time to five hours
- It features safety measures like fencing, speed cameras, CCTV, and alert strips for driver safety
- Nine facility centres offer fuel, EV charging, food courts, motels, trauma centres, and parking
The Ganga Expressway, Uttar Pradesh's latest greenfield expressway that links Meerut with Prayagraj, will be inaugurated this month. It will shorten the travel time between the two cities to just five hours. The 594-kilometre-long road boasts world-class facilities, including the strategic ability to serve as a runway for fighter jets and transport aircraft.
The Adani Group has built three of the four sections of the Ganga Expressway. Of the 594 kilometres, 464 kilometres of the road have been constructed by the conglomerate.
The six-lane Ganga Expressway passes through 12 districts in Uttar Pradesh, and it could be extended in the future to Uttarakhand's Haridwar. The elevated corridor can be expanded to eight lanes.
Safety Features
The expressway has several safety and security features, including cemented fencing, speed-checking cameras every 10 kilometres and high-resolution CCTV cameras every kilometre. Trees have been planted on the divider to shield drivers from the glare of the headlights of the oncoming traffic.
The Ganga Expressway will also serve as a religious tourism corridor.
Amenities
Nine facility centres have been constructed on the expressway, which will provide amenities like petrol/diesel pumps, CNG pumps, electric vehicle charging points, food courts, cafeteria, motels, trauma centres, toilets and parking spaces.
The Ganga Expressway is the country's first expressway that has trauma centres. The authorities have partnered with several big private hospitals to provide the facility.
Dhabas will offer food at comparatively low prices.
The charging points will be able to charge four cars and two trucks simultaneously. Tow-away vehicles, cranes and ambulances will be stationed every 50 kilometres.
Streetlights have been installed at all interchanges and bridges. The entire length of the expressway is equipped with red-coloured blinkers on both sides of the road.
Sidelanes have been constructed on both sides of the expressway to allow people to cross the road through underpasses.
The Ganga Expressway has many amenities for passengers, including trauma centres.
The Ganga Expressway has become the third road in Uttar Pradesh which can double up as a runway for the emergency landing of fighter aircraft and transport planes. The Lucknow-Agra Expressway and the Poorvanchal Expressway have this facility.
The 3.5-km runway is situated in the Shahjahan district.
Toll Rates
Passengers will have to shell out Rs 1,300 to travel the entire 594 km distance of the road.
The construction work for the expressway began in November 2022 and ended this month. The project was built in around 1,000 days at a rate of one kilometre every two days.
The expressway passes through 12 districts. They are: Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj.
Amroha and Bijnor will be linked with the road later.
Industrial Corridors Planned
Many industrial corridors are being planned along the expressway, including logistics hubs, warehouses, and industrial clusters. The process of allotting units for setting up the Integrated Manufacturing and Logistics Cluster in Badaun has already started.
This expressway will also serve as a religious tourism corridor, as it will connect Haridwar with Prayagraj. It will make Garh Mukteshwar, Sambhal, Varanasi and Prayagraj more accessible to devotees.
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)
