Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 340 km Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh on November 16. Built at a cost of Rs 42,000 crore, the highway connects eastern and western UP. 

It starts from Chandsarai village on the Lucknow-Sultanpur highway (NH-731) and ends at Hyderia village in Ghazipur district (NH-19), about 18 km from the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border. The expressway will reduce travel time between parts of UP and Bihar. It will also cut travel time between Delhi and Bihar to less than 12 hours.

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Bihar’s Buxar district is connected with the Purvanchal Expressway and the government is also planning to connect Bhagalpur by this road. Once the expressway is operational, Bihar’s capital Patna will have connectivity to Delhi with four and six lanes roads. Travel time from Patna to Delhi will be reduced from 18-20 hours now to 10-12 hours.

Last year, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar requested an extension of the expressway till Bihar. Agriculture and trade between the states are expected to benefit from the improved connectivity. 

The Purvanchal Expressway from Lucknow to Ghazipur via Azamgarh can be widened from six to eight lanes in  future. The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government expects the expressway will boost the development of Purvanchal. 

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The expressway covers the nine districts of Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur. It will also connect important cities like Varanasi, Ayodhya, Gorakhpur and Allahabad through link roads. In addition, the expressway will also have a 3 km runway in Sultanpur district. The runway has been proposed for landing and take-off of fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in an emergency. 

The foundation stone for the Purvanchal Expressway was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2018 at Azamgarh