Travel time will be reduced by 6 to 7 hours
Traveling from Delhi to Varanasi by road has become possible in just over 10 hours. This has become possible due to Purvanchal, Lucknow-Agra and Yamuna Expressway. Now the officials say that by 2026 the Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway will be ready to hit the ground running. Once completed, the distance of 690 km will be reduced to 610 km and the travel time will be reduced by 6 to 7 hours.
See which cities the expressway will connect
A meeting was held in September 2021 under the leadership of the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in which the proposal for the Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway was approved. This expressway was targeted to connect major cities falling between Delhi and Kolkata. This expressway will pass through Mohania, Rohtas, Sasaram, Aurangabad, Gaya in Bihar while Chatra, Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Ramgarh in Jharkhand and Purulia, Bankura, West Medinipur, Hooghly and Howrah in West Bengal.
Land identified in Chandauli
Varanasi Divisional Commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma said that the initial work of demarcation of land at Chandauli near Varanasi for the expressway has been done. However, the detailed report of the project is yet to come. Chandauli DM has been asked to prepare this report at the earliest. At present, most of the traffic from Varanasi to Kolkata passes through National Highway-19 (NH-19) (old NH-2).
Starting from Chandauli, meeting at Uluberia
NH-19 is a part of the Golden Quadrilateral. Most part of NH-19 is of six lane and some of it is of four lane. According to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway will start from Varanasi Ring Road in Chandauli district and join NH-16 near Uluberia in Howrah district.
The network of roads being laid in the Modi government
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central government has taken forward the work of connectivity in the country very fast. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport Department in the government, is very popular for his work and is one of the most appreciated ministers of the Modi cabinet. Under his leadership, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s dream of laying a network of roads in the country seems to be getting fulfilled. Atal had started the Golden Quadrilateral scheme in his government, which the Modi government is taking to its end very seriously.