By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Monday approved the alignment of the 165-km Greater Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway with the proposed 274-km Agra-Lucknow road project, a move which will considerably reduce the drive from the state capital to the national capital.
The Public Private Partnership Monitoring Committee (PPPMC) reviewed the draft concept report and gave the nod for the alignment. After the completion of the project, travel time from Lucknow to New Delhi will be considerably reduced.
To be built on ‘minimum distance formula’ through PPP mode, the finalised alignment proposes around the 274-km long six-lane (extendable to eight lanes) expressway, starting from the proposed Agra ring road close to Yamuna Expressway.
The state authorities asked the consultant to incorporate design parameters for a speed of 120 km/hour on the proposed expressway.
According to the draft concept report, there would be five toll-plazas, eight interchanges with 7.5 metres service lane along the expressway and 80 under passes, 135 cattle passes, four public amenities. Draft concept report has fixed the project execution time of 3 years.
Apart from cutting short the travel time between Agra and Lucknow to 3 hours from the present 7 hours, the access-controlled expressway will help the swift transportation of perishable produce of farmers to bigger markets and boost the tourism along the alignment as it will link to already functional Yamuna Expressway between Greater Noida and Agra.
The project is estimated to cost Rs.9,500 crore. It will have water bodies and eco-friendly parks.
Towns like Firozabad, Shikohabad, Etawah, Mainpuri, Kannauj and Malihabad would be on the expressway’s route.