With an aim to advance road transport in the country, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), under the Union Ministry of Road and Transport, has been developing a greenfield expressway road network. On lines of the Lucknow-Agra and Agra-Delhi Expressway, NHAI has now begun the work on the centre-approved Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway that will run parallel to the existing NH 25.

The construction of the 6-lane, 63 kilometer long expressway, is expected to start in October 2022 with a completion deadline of December 2025. As per reports, the project will be completed in two phases- Phase 1 will include the construction of an elevated corridor from Amausi Airport to Bani.

Phase 2, on the other hand, will include the construction of the remaining part of the expressway from Bani to Azad Chauraha near Kanpur's Ganga Barrage. Reportedly, the authorities have already started the work to remove illegal encroachers for phase 1 and Land Acquisition for Phase 2.

PNC Infratech the company that was awarded the tender for the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway has already started removing the illegal encroachers between Sarojni Nagar and Bani.

As per a report prepared by NHAI, 18 meters of land on each side from the centre of the road is reserved in the name of the government. Any property in the proposed area will be removed.

With the completion of the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, the travel time from Lucknow to Kanpur will be reduced from two hours to 50 minutes. As per the map shown by NHAI, the route will pass through 11 villages of the Lucknow district, and 31 villages in the Unnao district. Some of these villages include Banthara, Bani, Datauli, Kantha, Taura, Neorna, Amarsas and Rawal.

The Lucknow-Kanpur expressway will not only let you cover the distance from Lucknow to Kanpur quickly, but will also propel infrastructure development in and around these localities. It will also provide a push to regional economic activity, defence corridor projects and will reduce traffic snarls.

The project is expected to be completed at an estimated cost of ₹4700 crores, out of which, ₹1,935 crores has been approved for construction by the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.