UP Road Projects: Traveling from Prayagraj to Chitrakoot and Mirzapur will be easy! NHAI will build two new four-lane roads with Rs 8,315 crore; Will reach Chitrakoot in just one and a half hour

The journey from Tirtharaj Prayagraj to two major religious and cultural tourist centers—Chitrakoot Dham and Maa Vindhyavasini Dham (Mirzapur)—is going to be very fast, safe and easy in the coming times. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Uttar Pradesh administration have intensified preparations to convert both these important routes into modern fourlane and greenfield access-controlled corridors. In total, a huge amount of around Rs 8,315 crore will be spent on both the projects.

In the high-level coordination meeting held at the divisional level, a detailed strategy has been made on route alignment, realignment, bypass and land related points of these two mega road projects. The primary alignment of these two projects has received green signal from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. After the preparation of these routes, not only will the travel time be reduced to half, but it will also provide relief from the severe traffic jams during Magh Mela, Mahakumbh and on normal days.

The most prominent attraction of this scheme is the proposed new 4-lane greenfield access-controlled corridor between Prayagraj to Chitrakoot.

• Cost and length of the project: Construction of this completely new route of approximately 49.65 kilometers long is underway. Rs 3,821 crore Estimated cost.

• Alternative route away from densely populated areas: Since it will be a greenfield and controlled-access highway, it is being developed on a completely new route away from densely populated towns and congested old routes. This will eliminate unnecessary cuts and local blockages.

• Root Connection: This corridor will proceed through the proposed Ring Road and Ram Vanagaman Path near Prayagraj Airport.

• Huge savings in time: At present it takes 3 to 4 hours to go from Prayagraj to Chitrakoot. After the construction of the new four-lane road, devotees and tourists will only 1.5 hours (one and a half hours) From Sangamnagari, we will be able to reach Chitrakoot Dham and Rajapur, the birthplace of Goswami Tulsidas.

The second important project is related to the entire widening of National Highway-35 (NH-35) connecting Prayagraj to Mirzapur:

• project cost: On the rejuvenation of this route approximately Rs 4,495 crore Will be spent.

• Road Length: About 80.8 km long stretch from Leprosy intersection in Naini to Mirzapur bypass will be completely upgraded to four lane.

• Avoidance and bypass of dangerous turns: At present, some part of NH-35 is four-lane and some part is narrow two-lane, due to which different widths often lead to accidents and jams. The new project includes a proposal to straighten out dangerous curves and build new bypasses for densely populated towns.

• Relief to those going to Vindhyachal: With the four-laning of this route, lakhs of devotees going to visit Maa Vindhyavasini, daily commuters of Prayagraj and Mirzapur and heavy commercial vehicles will get easy and safe transportation.

Construction of these two road corridors will give a big boost to economic activities between Bundelkhand and Purvanchal:

Prayagraj, Chitrakoot and Mirzapur are considered to be the major triangle of religious tourism. With the construction of better road network, the number of tourists in the three districts will increase manifold, which will increase the income of local hotels, transport and cottage industries.

Apart from this, it will become much cheaper and faster to transport the famous carpet industry of Mirzapur, brass ware industry, stone mining industry and agricultural products of Chitrakoot-Kaushambi region (like guava, vegetables and grains) to big markets.

During the review of the project, the administrative officials laid special emphasis on the fact that the benefits of these new routes should not be limited only to North Prayagraj. Divisional Commissioner has directed that Naini Industrial Area, Aerocity and parts of South Prayagraj should also be effectively connected to this network.

Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) has suggested that during the Magh Mela and the upcoming Kumbh Melas, lakhs of vehicles coming from Mirzapur and Madhya Pradesh can be sent to the Mela area and Sirsa area through alternative ring roads and bypasses without entering the city, so that there is no jam situation in the city. NHAI has now started finalizing the processes of land identification and DPR in collaboration with local departments.