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Travelling around the wonderland that is India is a thrilling experience, especially when fast-moving super <keyword id="168020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="expressways">expressways</keyword> are right here to ensure some wonderful on-the-road vacations. Of course there are business travellers who are in a hurry to reach their destinations and <keyword id="2053038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Super-fast-expressways">super fast expressways</keyword> minus traffic snarls suit them down to the ground. But then, you can be one of those away on a leisure trip and looking forward to a fast and panoramic drive on your way to a new city. Either way, the expressways of India won’t disappoint you. As we mentioned before, expressways are controlled-access highways like the freeways or motorways or autobahnen in the US and Europe, essentially designed for high-speed traffic. As of now, most of the expressways in India are 6-8 lane toll <keyword id="6358996" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="roads">roads</keyword> and cover a total distance of nearly 1,208.19 km. 
 
Last month, we brought you <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/8-Super-ExpresswaysIn-North-India-That-Fulfil-Your-Need-For-Speed/articleshow/29486214.cms">8 super expressways</a> in North India that fulfil your need for speed. And this time, we move to the West and the North-west of the country where some more picturesque drives await us. However, the <keyword id="52840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sea-links">sea links</keyword> and the <keyword id="2053055" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Coastal-expressways">coastal expressways</keyword> will come up in our next article. So grab a coffee, get a map and read on. By the time you are through, you could be checking the map and picking out the spots where you want to go first. As the Turkish playwright <keyword id="1981629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mehmet-Murat">Mehmet Murat</keyword> ildan has said: Some roads are so beautiful that you know not whether you travel on the road or the road travels in you! 
 
Image: Thinkstock Photos/Getty Images

Open Roads Return: 6 Super
Expressways In West & North-west India

Even in this age of jet travel and space tourism, highways hold an irresistible charm for travellers out to have an up, close and personal experience of the wide roads stretching ahead for miles, uninterrupted views of a breathtaking landscape, the occasional flyways and the not-so-familiar villages and towns rushing by. It’s even better than chugging along the countryside in a train. You can stop any time you want – to sample some chatpati chaat and a steaming cuppa of chai at a roadside dhaba; to talk to people; to take a dekko at local interests or simply laze an hour or two in shine or rain with the greens around you and the fresh smell of soil floating in the air. 
 
Now that our <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Chugging-Up-7-Mesmerising-Mountain-Train-RidesIn-India/articleshow/24288850.cms">train series</a> is over (but we promise to bring you more as soon as new and exotic routes come up), we are back with a more exciting roadmap of <keyword id="168020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="expressways">expressways</keyword> that criss-cross the entire country, connecting the four metros and many of the Tier I cities, and going much beyond the urban landscape. Infrastructure development in India has undergone a sea change over the past few years and the country currently boasts the <keyword id="2034191" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Second-largest-road-network">second largest road network</keyword> in the world, with a road length of over 4,689,842 km, as per 2013 data from the <keyword id="6404450" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ministry-of-Road-Transport-and-Highways">Ministry of Road Transport and Highways</keyword>. 
 Starting from FY2012-13, the <keyword id="44734" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-Government">Indian government</keyword> will be also putting $17 billion over the next five years, being sourced through public-private partnership (<keyword id="6361580" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="PPP">PPP</keyword>) road projects. This will be used by the <keyword id="87432" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Highways-Authority-of-India">National Highways Authority of India</keyword> (<keyword id="49448" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="nhai">NHAI</keyword>) for the planned series of <keyword id="174913" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="BOT">BOT</keyword> (build, operate and transfer) highways. In spite of several bottlenecks, the NHAI has set up impressive targets and aims to develop 20 km/day, in a bid to fast-track the country’s <keyword id="2034194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Road-network-expansion">road network expansion</keyword>. 
 As of July 2013, <keyword id="6373156" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Highways">national highways</keyword> account for 79,116 km, connecting all major cities and state capitals. Expressways, however, differ a bit in the sense they are controlled-access highways like the <keyword id="610047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="freeways">freeways</keyword> or <keyword id="1333990" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="motorways">motorways</keyword> or autobahnen in the US and Europe, essentially designed for high-speed traffic. As of now, most of the expressways in India are 6-8 lane <keyword id="120837" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="toll-roads">toll roads</keyword> and cover a total distance of nearly 1,208.19 km. India expects to add another 3,530 km of expressways by 2014 as projects under construction get completed. Another massive programme is also under way to expand the network and the Indian government plans to add an additional 18,637 km of expressways by 2022. 
 So are you ready to emerge on another breath-taking <keyword id="6374782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="journey">journey</keyword> with us, literally a journey of thousand miles and more? We will bring you the super expressways zone-wise – so that you know which route to choose when travelling North or South, East or West. And it will be a beautiful journey as art and cultural critic <keyword id="2034192" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dave-Hickey">Dave Hickey</keyword> so rightly said – Beauty is and always will be blue skies and open highway. 
 
Image: Wikimedia Commons

8 Super Expressways
In North India That Fulfil Your Need For Speed

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Ascena <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="retail">Retail</keyword> Group will shutter at least 157 <keyword id="1880970" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lane-Bryant">Lane Bryant</keyword> stores.</li><li>Ascena also owns Catherines and Justice, as well as Ann Inc., the parent company of both Ann Taylor and Loft.</li><li>The Lane Bryant closures will hit malls and standalone stores across the United States. </li></ul>Over a hundred Lane Bryant stores will shutter as the clothing shop's parent company struggles with the effects of COVID-19. The Ascena Retail Group also owns Justice and Catherines, as well as the parent company of both Ann Taylor and Loft. In a July 23 Chapter 11 filing, the company announced its intent "to close and wind down approximately 1,100 underperforming brick-and-mortar store locations" across its 2,800 brick-and-mortar stores in the United States and Canada. According to the Chapter 11 filing, the closures will affect malls and standalone stores across the country. <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7001240/Ascena-Retail.pdf">Ascena Retail (PDF)</a> <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7001240/Ascena-Retail.txt">Ascena Retail (Text)</a>In its filing, Ascena attributed the closures to the coronavirus pandemic, saying "the effects of the COVID-19 accelerated the need for a long-term strategic solution to the Debtors' balance sheet and operating model." The Lane Bryant stores slated for closure were chosen based on their lack of profitability, sales trends, occupancy costs, and other macro factors.The remaining Lane Bryant stores will continue to operate, as will the plus-size clothing retailer's e-commerce operations.<h2>Here are the Lane Bryant stores that are slated to close:</h2>Alabama: Outlet Shops Of Grand River, 6200 Grand River Blvd E, Leeds, ALShoppes Of Bel Air, 3222 Bel Air Mall Unit A8, Mobile, ALArizona:Crossroads Town Center, 3855 South Gilbert Rd #104, Gilbert, AZShoppes At Gilbert Commons, Baseline Road &amp; N. Cooper Road, Gilbert, AZSuperstition Springs Center, 6555 E Southern Ave#1216, Mesa, AZTucson Premium Outlets, 6401 West Marana Center Blvd, Marana, AZTucson Spectrum, 5351 S. Calle Santa Cruz, Tucson, AZArkansas: Pinnacle Hills Promenade, 2203 Promenade Blvd, Rogers, ARCalifornia:Ash Tree Square Shopping Center, 1037 E Shaw Ave, Fresno, CAFallbrook Center, 6735 1/2 Fallbrook Ave 801, West Hills, CAJess Ranch Marketplace, 19157 Bear Valley Rd Ste B, Apple Valley, CAOutlets At Tejon Ranch, 5701 Outlets At Tejon Pkwy, Arvin, CAPetaluma Village Premium Outlet, 2200 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma, CAPlaza 183, 11215 183rd St.,#a-180, Cerritos, CASlatten Ranch Shopping Center, 5759 Lone Tree Way - Ste B, Antioch, CATulare Outlet Center, 1725 Retherford Street, Tulare, CAConnecticut:Elm Plaza, 95 Elm Street Unit 8, Enfield, CTMeriden Mall, 470 Lewis Ave Sp #2024, Meriden, CTNod Brook Mall, 315 West Main Street Unit 5, Avon, CTWethersfield Shopping Center, 1067 Silas Deane Hwy, Wethersfield, CTColorado: Canyon View Marketplace, 632 Market St Unit B, Grand Junction, COFront Range Village, 4321 Corbett Dr, Ft. Collins, COOutlets At Castle Rock, 5050 Factory Shops Blvd, Suite 625, Castle Rock, COBelmar Plaza, 340 S. Teller Street, Lakewood, CODelaware:Concord Mall, 4737 Concord Pike Sp 370, Wilmington, DEFlorida:Boynton Beach Mall, 801 N Congress Ave #151, Boynton Beach, FLCitrus Park, 7917 Citrus Park Town Center Mall, Tampa, FLCoastland Center, 1750 Tamiami Trail N., Naples, FLCoconut Point Town Center, 8024 Mediterranean Dr C25, Estero, FLGovernor's Square, 1500 Apalachee Parkway, Tallahassee, FLLegacy Place, 11280 Legacy Ave, Palm Beach Gardens, FLPalm Beach Power Center, 1855 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd, West Palm Beach, FLPembroke Lakes Mall, 11401 Pines Blvd Sp 422, Pembroke Pines, FLWaterford Lakes Town Center, 657 N. Alafaya Trail, Orlando, FLGeorgia: Albany Mall Shopping Center, 2601 Dawson Road, Albany, GAValdosta Mall, 1700 Norman Dr Sp 102, Valdosta, GAIllinois: Chicago Premium Outlets, 1650 Premium Outlet Blvd Space1, Aurora, ILFox Valley Mall, 2300 Fox Valley Center, Aurora, ILNorthwoods Mall, 2200 W War Memorial Drive, Peoria, ILOutlets At Tuscola, E500 Tuscola Blvd, Tuscola, ILUniversity Mall, 1237 E Main St, Carbondale, ILIndiana: Muncie Mall, 3501 North Granville Ave, Muncie, INIowa:Outlets Williamsburg, 1991 O'donnell Road, Williamsburg, IAValley West Mall, 1551 Valley W.Dr., West Des Moines, IAKansas:Legends Outlets At Kansas City, 1803 Village West Pky, Kansas City, KSLouisiana: Alexandria Mall, 3437 Masonic Drive Suite 1286, Alexandria, LAFremaux Town Center, 210 Towne Center Parkway, Slidell, LALouisiana Boardwalk, 525 Boardwalk Blvd Space J525, Bossier City, LAStirling Bossier Shopping Center, 2920 Meadowcreek Dr, Bossier City, LATowne Center At Cedar Lodge, 7425 Corporate Blvd, Baton Rouge, LAMaineBangor Mall, 663 Stillwater Ave #1135, Bangor, MEMarketplace At Augusta, 14 Stephen King Dr Ste 1, Augusta, MEMaryland:Arundel Mills, 7000 Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover, MDFrancis Scott Key Mall, 5500 Buckeystown Pike #870, Frederick, MDHagerstown Premium Outlets, 430 Premium Outlets Blvd, Hagerstown, MDHunt Valley Towne Centre, 118 Shawan Rd, Suite I, Hunt Valley, MDMall At Price Georges, 3500 East-West Hwy, Hyattsville, MDMassachusetts:Highland Commons, 20 Highland Commons East, Berlin, MAWalpole Mall, 60 Providence Highway, Walpole, MAMichigan:Genesee Valley Center, 3417 S Linden Rd Spc 110, Flint, MIMarketplace At Delta Township, 333c North Marketplace Blv, Lansing, MITanger Outlet Kensington Valley, 1475 N Burkhart Road, Howell, MIMinnesota:Albertville Premium Outlets, 6415 Labeaux Ave Ne #b260, Albertville, MNMedford Outlet Center, 6750 West Frontage Rd #442, Medford, MNMiller Hill Mall, 1600 Miller Trunk Hwy, Duluth, MNMississippi: Gulfport Premium Outlets, 10640 Factory Shop Blvd, Gulfport, MSMissouri:Osage Beach Premium Outlets, 4540 Osage Beach Pkwy, Osage Beach, MOShoppes At North Village, 5301 N Belt Highway-Ste107, St. Joseph, MOSt. Louis Premium Outlets,18505 Outlet Blvd, Chesterfield, MOSummit Woods Crossing, 1752 Nw Chipman Rd, Lee's Summit, MOMontana: Southgate Mall, 2901 Brooks Street, #a-6, Missoula, MTNebraska: Gateway Mall, 6100 O Street, Lincoln, NENebraska Crossing Outlets, 21351 Nebraska Crossing Dr Ste A121, Gretna, NENevada: Laughlin Outlet Center, 1955 S Casino Drive-#250, Laughlin, NVNew Hampshire:Mall Of New Hampshire, 1500 S Willow St, Manchester, NHMerrimack Premium Outlets, 80 Premium Outlets Blvd, Merrimack, NHTanger Outlet Tilton, 120 Laconia Road, Tilton, NHNew Jersey:Hadley Shopping Center, 4989 Stelton Rd, South Plainfield, NJHamilton Commons, 4215 Black Horse Pk, Mays Landing, NJHillview Shopping Center, 2135 Rte 38, Cherry Hill, NJJackson Premium Outlets, 537 Monmouth Road, Jackson, NJLivingston Mall, 112 Eisenhower Pkwy, Livingston, NJSomerset Shopping Center, 369 Us Hwy 202/206, Bridgewater, NJSouth Shore, 1701 Sunrise Hwy, Bay Shore, NJThe Mills At Jersey Gardens, 651 Kapkowski Road, Elizabeth, NJQuaker Bridge Mall, 3320 Us Highway 1 Unit 199, Lawrenceville, NJWayne Towne Center, 173 State Route 23, Wayne, NJWillow Ridge Plaza, 748a Route 73 South, Marlton, NJNew York:Crossroads Shopping Center, 437 Tarrytown Rd, White Plains, NYEastview Mall, 7979 Victor-Pittsford Road, Victor, NYGalleria At Crystal Run, 1 N Galleria Drive - Ste D212, Middletown, NYGreat South Bay Shopping Center, 835 West Montauk Hwy, West Babylon, NYNew Hartford Consumer Square, 4775 Commercial Drive, New Hartford, NYPalisades Center, 2780 Palisades Center Dr, West Nyack, NYTanger Outlet Riverhead, 1770 W. Main St. #401, Riverhead, NYTanger Outlet Center At The Arches, 1482 The Arches Cir, Deer Park, NYWaterloo Premium Outlets, 655 Route 318 Suite 60, Waterloo, NY Eastview Mall, 7979 Victor-Pittsford Road, Victor, NYNorth Carolina:Northlake Mall, 6801 Northlake Mall Dr-146, Charlotte, NCTanger Outlet Mebane, 4000 Arrowhead Blvd #120, Mebane, NCValley Hills Mall, 1960 Us Highway 70 SE, Hickory, NCNorth Dakota:Grand Forks Marketplace, 3721 32nd Ave South, Grand Forks, ND Pinehurst Square, 917 W Interstate Ave, Bismarck, NDOhio:8430 Factory Shops Blvd, Jeffersonville, OHDayton Mall, 2700 Miamisburgh/centervil, Dayton, OHEastwood Mall, 5555 Youngstown Warren Road, Niles, OHMall At Tuttle Crossing, 5043 Tuttle Crossing Blvd, Dublin, OHOklahoma:Lawton Marketplace, 1832 Nw 82nd St, Lawton, OKQuail Springs Mall, 2501 W Memorial Rd, Oklahoma City, OKOregon:Cascade Village, 63455 North Us Hwy 97, Bend, ORLincoln City Outlets, 1500 Se East Devils Lake Rd Sp 107, Lincoln City, ORRogue Valley Mall, 1600 N. Riverside Dr. #1077, Medford, ORWoodburn Premium Outlets, 1001 N Arney Road, Woodburn, ORPennsylvania:King Of Prussia Plaza, 160 North Gulph Rd, King Of Prussia, PAMillcreek Mall, 670 Millcreek Mall, Erie, PAPhiladelphia Mills, 1900 Franklin Mills Circle, Philadelphia, PAShoppes At Belmont, 1575 Fruitville Pike Suite A-2, Lancaster, PASouth Hills Village, 301 S Hills Village, Pittsburgh, PAWillow Grove Park, 2500 W Moreland Rd, Willow Grove, PASouth Carolina:Anderson Mall, 3131 N Main St, Anderson, SCColumbiana Centre, 100 Columbiana Circle, Suite 1218, Columbia, SCTanger Outlet Charleston, 4840 Bentonville Pky #1066, Charleston, SCTanger Outlet Hilton Head, 1254 Fording Island Road, Bluffton, SCWando Crossing, 1485 N Highway 17 Unit A, Mt. Pleasant, SCTennessee: Lebanon Premium Outlets, 510 Outlet Village Blvd Spc 510, Lebanon, TNProvidence Marketplace Shopping Center, 401 S Mt Juliet Rd Bld 300, Mt. Juliet, TNTexas:Copperwood Village Shopping Center, 6525 Highway 6 N, Houston, TXFountains At Farah, 8889 Gateway West Blvd, El Paso, TXGrapevine Mills, 3000 Grapevine Mills Pkwy, Grapevine, TXKaty Mills, 5000 Katy Mills Circle 156, Katy, TXOutlet Shoppes At El Paso, 7051 S. Desert Blvd #e575, El Paso, TXRio Grande Valley Premium Outlets, 5001 E Expressway 83 Suite 220, Mercedes, TXRound Rock Premium Outlets, 4401 N Interstate 35 Suite 705, Round Rock, TXSan Marcos Premium Outlets, 3939 S Interstate 35, San Marcos, TXShoppes At Rio Grande Valley, 427 East Trenton Rd, Edinburg, TXShops At Abilene, 3517 Catclaw Dr, Abilene, TXSouth Park Mall, 2310 Sw Military Dr #511, San Antonio, TXTanger Outlet Houston, 5885 Gulf Fwy, Suite 410, Galveston, TXTanger Outlet Terrell, 301 Tanger Drive Ste 210, Terrell, TXWichita Falls Marketplace, 3911 Lawrence Rd, Wichita Falls, TXVermont: Essex Town Center, 21 Essex Way - Suite 113, Essex, VTVirginia:29th Place, 800 Twentyninth Place Ct, Charlottesville, VAPeninsula Town Center, 1420 Merchant Lane, Hampton, VAStonebridge At Potomac Town Center, 15001 Potomac Town Place Space 130, Woodbridge, VAUtah: Red Cliffs Mall, 446 N 1680 East Unit 310, St. George, UTShoppes At Lake Park, 2981 S 5600th W, West Valley City, UTStation Park Shopping Center, 235 N. West Promontory, Farmington, UTWashington: Bellis Fair Mall, One Bellis Fair Pkwy #362, Bellingham, WAColumbia Center, 1321 N Columbia Center, Suite 533, Kennewick, WACommons At Federal Way, 2116 S Commons, Federal Way, WAKitsap Mall, 10315 Silverdale Way Nw, Silverdale, WANorth Bend Premium Outlets, 521 S Fork Ave Sw - G H I, North Bend, WANorthgate S/c, 401 Northeast Northgate Way, Seattle, WASouth Hill Mall, 3500 S Meridian Unit 530, Puyallup, WATriangle Center, 620 Triangle Shopping Ctr, Longview, WAWest Virginia:Huntington Mall, 500 Mall Road Sp780, Barboursville, WVWisconsin: Oakwood Mall, 4800 Golf Road Space #338, Eau Claire, WIOutlets At The Dells, 210 Gasser Road - Ste 451, Baraboo, WI

Lane Bryant's parent company will jettison 157 stores after filing for Chapter 11

When farmers were protesting across India against the NDA government’s land acquisition bill, over 30, 000 farmers in Uttar Pradesh willingly gave their fertile lands to the <keyword id="927064" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Samajwadi-Party-led-government">Samajwadi Party-led government</keyword> to build its six-lane Agra-Lucknow expressway project. The government's flagship 302-km expressway greenfield project is the longest in the country till date. 

	The state government has acquired nearly 3,000 hectares of fertile, multi-cropped land for its greenfield expressway project without a murmur of dissent. At least 30,074 farmers in that state gave up fertile tracts of the Indo-Gangetic plain in record time. 
	 

	But the question arises, how did this acquisition for the Rs 15,000 crore project happen so quickly? When asked about the same, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister <keyword id="6355031" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Akhilesh-Yadav">Akhilesh Yadav</keyword> told TOI that by keeping farmers happy. When <keyword id="93127" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="UP-Expressway-Industrial-Development-Authority">UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority</keyword> (UPEIDA), the nodal agency for implementing the project, set out to acquire land for the developers of the expressway project, it decided to avoid the contentious "acquisition" process almost entirely. "Instead of acquiring land as is usually done, it was decided to purchase land from farmers through a mutual agreement. 
	 

	To make the transaction more lucrative, land owners were offered four times the circle rates (CR) in rural areas, and twice the CR in urban parts, as purchase cost. Acquisition was only considered in cases where mutual agreement failed," said Navneet Sehgal, chief executive, UPEIDA. To build it by October 2016, as the chief minister has promised to do, the <keyword id="95895" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="UP-government">UP government</keyword> needs a total of 3,368.60 hectares of land cutting across 232 revenue villages from Agra to Lucknow, and passing through the districts of Mainpuri, Etawah, Kannauj, Auraiyya and Unnao. In the 270 days between June 2014 and January this year, UPEIDA completed about 27,000 registries at the rate of about 10 a day, arguably the fastest yet, government-run expressway project of this magnitude. To achieve this, UPEIDA paid, till May 15, 2015, Rs 2,844.55 crore to make an outright purchase of 2,824.16 hectares of land from individual land owners, and 303.29 hectares from government departments, almost 93% of the total land it needed. Assistant CEO UPEIDA, <keyword id="361651" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ashutosh-Dubey">Ashutosh Dubey</keyword> said, "The government set up rate fixation committees under the chairmanship of the <keyword id="6381069" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="District-magistrate">district magistrate</keyword> to arrive at a mutually agreeable rate. After the approval of the CEO, land owners were given four times, or twice the CR depending on the location of their land. 
	 Apart from their land holdings, owners were also compensated for permanent structures built on their land, and for unharvested crops." When TOI contacted land owners who gave up their land through a mutual agreement with the state government, reactions were mixed. In Unnao, which falls under segment 5 of the expressway project and is being developed by <keyword id="689816" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Larsen-Toubro-Limited">Larsen &amp; Toubro Limited</keyword>, Jagdamba Singh, a resident of Matariya village, confirmed he had received four times the circle rate. 
	 

	"My village was on the Unnao-Lucknow border, but on the Unnao side. My compensation, as a result, was paid according to the prevailing DM circle rates in Unnao. The neighbouring village that falls in Lucknow, however, received a higher compensation. So even though I got four times, I felt cheated," Singh said. In Etawah's Takha tehsil, Bakridan begum walked away with a compensation of Rs 8.91 lakh for selling 2.5 bighas of land held in her name. Her son, <keyword id="3718452" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Naseem-Khan">Naseem Khan</keyword> told TOI, "We used about Rs 98,000 for a wedding in the family. We are also in advanced stages of talks over the purchase of additional agriculture land with the compensation money we received." In both cases, Singh and Khan said their families will remain invested in farming and did not plan to use the surplus funds to diversify their businesses. 
	 

	Not all land holders, however, were agreeable to selling their land to the government. In such cases, UP opted for the land acquisition process as prescribed under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013, and acquired 160.28 hectares of land. Here, while the rate of compensation remained the same, beneficiaries were offered an extra payment at an interest rate prescribed within the state's rules.

	The benefits of the dual model-acquisition plus purchase were many. "This model allowed UP to facilitate land transfer to developers in record time, Dubey said. Since the state's pur chase-acquisition process started in June last year, UPEIDA now has a land pool of 3,287.73 hectares of the 3,368.60 hectares it needed; that's 97.6% of the land it needed, organized in less than one year. 
	 

	The success of the Agra-Lucknow "expressway" model of acquiring land through mutual agreements and through the acquisition route has now been extended to other construction projects as well. "It is a smoother, faster process. More significantly, though, farmers and land holders get a much better deal for their land than they would if we went the acquisition way. That would have been also much more time-consuming,” Dubey added.

	 
	(Image: Indiatimes)

Know how land was acquired for Agra-Lucknow expressway

Tuesday Morning says it wants to close 265 stores as part of its bankruptcy filing. See if your local store is on the list.

Bed Bath & Beyond is closing nearly 150 more locations as it whittles its footprint down to just 360. Here's the full list of closing stores.

<ul><li>Tamil Nadu is going to poll for the first time in the second phase of the 2019 Parliamentary elections in India.</li></ul><ul><li>The Neduvasal hydrocarbon project and Chennai-Salem expressway project driven by the central government have faced severe public outrage. </li></ul><ul><li>The Narendra Modi government’s stance on imposing a central exam for medical college admissions has further tilted the scales in favour of its rivals.</li></ul><ul><li>While the country’s largest copper smelter operated by Sterlite has been shut by court order, the police firing that killed 14 protestors in 2018 is still fresh in the voters’ minds. </li></ul><ul><li>The blame for the shootout in Tuticorin fell on the ruling state government under AIADMK, which is now fighting the Parliamentary elections in alliance with the BJP. </li></ul>The voters of one of India’s <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/himachal-pradesh-tamil-nadu-and-kerala-top-ranking-in-sdg-index-niti-aayog/articleshow/67192585.cms">relatively developed states</a>, Tamil Nadu, are an angry lot. A series of missteps by the Narendra Modi government meant that their indignation has been directed towards the incumbent alliance between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On the other side is the coalition between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Indian National Congress, the Left Front, and a set of other local parties that significance within certain segments-- either geographically or among specific sections of the electorate. While there are other regional outfits and smaller coalitions in the fray, including the iconic movie star Kamal Hasan who is making his electoral debut, almost <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019/tamil-nadu/news/tamil-nadu-poll-survey-says-dmk-front-to-get-30-33-lok-sabha-seats/articleshow/68784727.cms">all opinion polls</a> in the run up to the elections have handed a landslide to the challengers led by the DMK and Congress. There are at least four big decisions that work against the incumbent <keyword id="5013725" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="AIADMK-BJP-Alliance">AIADMK-BJP alliance</keyword>. A small oil field In 2015, the <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/energy/no-noble-gases-57750">Modi government approved a project to dig</a> for oil and natural gas from a 10 square kilometre field in Neduvasal, in Pudukottai district. The reason being the oil field was located in one of the more fertile parts of Tamil Nadu’s delta region around the Cauvery river. The proposal to dig for oil in the region scratched the wounds of an existing wound in the minds of the local farmers. A standoff with the neighbouring state of Karnataka over <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/a-brief-history-of-the-cauvery-dispute/tale-of-two-states/slideshow/63698683.cms">the sharing of Cauvery’s water</a> is decades old. Even after a settlement ordered by the Supreme Court, the farmers’ in Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl feel parched as well as wronged by the system. Farmers were caught by surprise when they were asked to give up their land to extract oil, while they were still hoping to their share of water to till the land. A big highway Farmers have been up in arms in five other districts too, far away from Neduvasal. The point of contention is an eight-lane expressway stretching nearly 280 kilometres west from the state capital Chennai to the industrial town of Salem. Once again the BJP has found itself in the firing line of the voters as it continues to push for the project despite stiff resistance that the party’s rivals have capitalised on. The Madras High Court on April 8 quashed the land acquisition process for the Chennai-Salem Expressway project. The challenging coalition led by Congress and the DMK have vowed to scrap the project if voted to power. A medical entrance test Seventeen-year-old Anitha, an aspiring medical student, committed suicide in September 2017 after she failed to clear the then newly-introduced medical entrance exam, that goes by the acronym NEET. The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) replaced the admission tests for medical colleges across the country with a centralised process. The <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-neet-election-issue-tamil-nadu-98604">people’s resentment against NEET</a> stems from the view that it puts local students, even the high-scorers, at a disadvantage because the curriculum is structured based on the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which is different from the state syllabus. The state administration’s high-handed approach in the wake of protests, and <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/story/piyush-goyal-neet-tamil-nadu-bjp-aiadmk-1500468-2019-04-12">the BJP’s persistence</a> on imposing NEET, has only hurt the alliance’s chances in the state. Once again, BJP’s rivals have promised to let states decide the mode of admission into medical colleges. The <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Politics/QgYD6W50rev6VcHmGs9GKP/NEET-protests-More-states-join-the-fight.html">protests against NEET was not unique</a> to Tamil Nadu, but the outrage in the southern state was the most severe. Tamil Nadu is known for its huge population of aspiring doctors. The state has 22 medical colleges, among the highest in the country, and 4 doctors for every 1,000 people, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/6-states-have-more-doctors-than-whos-11000-guideline/articleshow/65640694.cms">nearly at par with</a> developed countries like Norway and Sweden. Despite the enduring resentment, Tamil Nadu had the <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/education/2019/feb/03/tamil-nadu-has-the-highest-number-of-doctors-who-cleared-pg-neet-1933745.html">maximum number of students</a> clearing the NEET exam in 2019. The shootout In May 2018, The Tamil Nadu Police <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/sterlite-violence-video-shows-policemen-taking-aim-and-shooting-protesters-81744">opened fire at a sea of protestors</a> outside the country’s largest copper smelter, operated by Sterlite, a Vedanta Group company. More than 10 people died in the shootout and the public anger that swelled further poured on the ruling state government led by the AIADMK. Sterlite’s plant was accused of violating pollution norms, causing fatal health issues to its workers and the population in its vicinity. Local protests against the plant have been underway in patches since 1996, and they escalated once again in 2018 leading up to the <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/editorials/tuticorin-massacre/594415.html">‘Tuticorin Massacre’</a>. Subsequent probe and judicial inquiry revealed gaping regulatory lapses, eventually leading to the closure of the plant pending investigations and corrections. The London-based Vedanta Group has been a big donor to <a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/india/sterlite-congress-bjp-fcra-violation-finance-bill-amendments">both the BJP and the Congress</a> between 2004 and 2015. However, BJP also found itself further on the wrong side of the debate soon after the issue came to the fore, as some of its leaders tried to colour some of the protestors as anti-social elements. 
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="HRajaBJP" handlename="Chowkidar H Raja" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/690063070870241280/uH8lVPNK_normal.jpg" favoritecount="668" retweetcount="333" status="Not only Thoothukudi even the protest against the 8 way highway is orchestrated by the same anti social elements. https://t.co/UcjvxjiDsV" createdat="1530593499000" id="1014008749197946880"></div>





 Going into the 2019 elections, the party is in alliance with the regional party, AIADMK, which bore the brunt of the public anger. A year on, the memory of the lethal attack on protestors is still fresh among voters, particularly in the region. As is the outrage against NEET, the Chennai-Salem expressway, and the proposed oil field in Neduvasal. The odds are heavily stacked against the AIADMK-BJP alliance. This is the first-time in decades that Tamil Nadu is going to polls without a strong, regional leader to back. Over decades, a series of larger-than-life leaders, with their share of taints, from <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/cn-annadurai-legacy-of-a-dravidian-stalwart-6007351.html">CN Annadurai</a> to <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19880115-m.g.-ramachandran-death-marks-the-passing-of-an-era-of-stability-in-tamil-nadu-796866-1988-01-15">MG Ramachandran</a> to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/karunanidhi-1924-2018/newslist/65311339.cms">M Karunanidhi</a> and <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/jayalalithaas-legacy/article9435860.ece">J Jayalalitha</a> had turned Tamil Nadu into a politically unbreachable fortress for national parties. The mandate kept passing between the DMK and AIADMK for years. However, the passing away of Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha in recent years has left a political vacuum that the national parties intended to capitalise on. Neither the BJP nor the Congress by itself has made any significant headway so far.

Tamil Nadu’s angry voters have a small oil field, a big highway, a medical entrance test, and a police shootout in mind

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/undividing"></a>Sarah JacobsThe Sheridan Expressway starts as an elevated highway in Hunts Point.<ul><li>The Sheridan Expressway is a six-lane highway that cuts through the South Bronx in New York City, depriving neighborhoods of access to basic amenities.</li><li>It's just one of many highways built in the mid-20th century that have isolated low-income communities of color while ferrying white suburbanites in and out of city centers.</li><li>After decades of activism, the Sheridan may be the nation's next highway torn apart as states shift their priorities to consider the role infrastructure plays in shaping communities.</li></ul>It's six lanes wide and just over a mile long, an unfinished stub symbolizing the larger ambitions of ruthless 20th-century city planners. When it opened to cars in 1963, the Sheridan Expressway helped whisk white, middle-class suburbanites into and out of Manhattan without having to linger in the Bronx along the way.But neighborhoods along the Sheridan have suffered. The massive expressway helped drive out thousands of longtime residents who had the means to leave, and several businesses in its path were torn down.Today, an auto-body shop can be found on almost every block, and trucks clog the streets near the expressway, coming and going from the wholesale food market that serves much of New York City. It has served as a literal barrier, preventing residents from accessing the Bronx River, parks, grocery stores, subway stations, and schools.Hunts Point, a once vibrant jazz community, is now defined by the Sheridan. Roads are clogged by trucks exiting the Sheridan, and blocks are lined with chain-link fences, auto-salvage yards, and warehouses. The community suffers from abnormally high rates of asthma from vehicle exhaust."It's isolated a whole population of Hunts Point," Maria Torres, a 46-year-old Hunts Point resident, said in an interview. Torres has lived in Hunts Point for 20 years.For years, decades even, residents like Torres have entertained a fantasy: What would happen if the Sheridan just disappeared? Would it bring back clean air and reconnect Hunts Point - a peninsula with a picturesque Bronx River waterfront - to the rest of the borough?More than half a century after it went up, we could soon find out. The Sheridan is likely to join a number of highways that once isolated lower-income neighborhoods in cities across the US but are being torn apart as states shift their priorities and consider the role infrastructure plays in shaping communities.<h2>Hunts Point</h2><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARobert_Moses_with_Battery_Bridge_model.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>Robert Moses is a controversial urban planner known for shaping modern-day New York.You can still see some signs of what Hunts Point was like before the Sheridan was built.Prewar row houses with peeling paint hint at a time when Hunts Point was a suburban village with some farmland.But the state officials in the mid-20th century thought little about this neighborhood's residents."Having to cross a six-lane highway to get to a train station or to shopping … is difficult," Torres said.You can blame Robert Moses for that. The controversial New York urban planner was behind most of the New York region's urban-renewal projects in the 20th century, from the creation of Lincoln Center to public pools and the building of the Triborough Bridge (now known as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge).And while Moses had outsize power in New York, he wasn't alone. The Sheridan is an example of one of several infrastructure projects constructed in the 20th century, including the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco and Harbor Drive in Portland, with little regard for the communities they were directly affecting.Yet what happened to Hunts Point is more complicated.After decades of community activism, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is setting aside $1.8 billion to turn it into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard.At a time when the national dialogue has centered on a proposed $1 trillion investment for new infrastructure nationally, Cuomo's Sheridan proposal is about paring down - and giving previously neglected communities a chance to come back together.But over the past half a century, Hunts Point has adapted in a way. As much as the expressway has made life harder for residents, it has also spawned businesses and industry. Trucks go on and off the Sheridan all day and night, heading to wholesalers and other businesses.<h2>A border vacuum</h2>Sarah JacobsAuto shops line the Sheridan Expressway, servicing the 30,000 vehicles that drive on the highway daily.Take a stroll along the outskirts of the Sheridan Expressway and you will primarily see two things: food markets and auto-body repair shops.It's a mini economy that has developed out of the construction of the Sheridan.Hunts Point is now an industrial neighborhood that has been shaped and influenced by the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center. The Center is composed of more than 150 public and private wholesalers, the biggest being the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market, the Cooperative Meat Market, and the New Fulton Fish Market.The Center takes up 329 acres in Hunts Point - nearly half of the 690-acre peninsula. It is the largest wholesale market in North America, providing food to 22 million people in New York and the larger Northeast while employing tens of thousands of people.The Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market opened in 1967, a few years after the Sheridan opened to traffic. The meat and fish markets would follow later.The primary vehicles crossing the Sheridan Expressway are trucks hauling food into and out of the center. The auto shops and salvage yards that have popped up along the way all rely on those customers coming from the freeway.It wasn't always like this. At one point, Hunts Point was considered an epicenter of Latin music.Manida Street, once occupied by a colony of jazz musicians and artists, is now lined with chain-link fences and red-brick warehouses. Major establishments like Hunts Point Palace, once home to live music and salsa dancing, are long gone.Sarah JacobsThe start of the Sheridan in Hunts Point is regularly congested with vehicles coming from the Bruckner Expressway.Moses' highways - not just the Sheridan, but also the Bruckner Expressway and the Cross Bronx - contributed to the industrialization of Hunts Points. From 1970 to 1985, Hunts Point lost two-thirds of its residential population. Neighborhoods next door saw similar declines.The Sheridan serves as a "border vacuum," a term coined by urban activist Jane Jacobs, referring to the role infrastructure can play in blocking access to public spaces and depriving growth in the area.And yet, the Sheridan itself is largely underused, with roughly 35,000 vehicles crossing the freeway on a daily basis. It also fails to provide direct access to the Food Distribution Center, forcing trucks to navigate local streets to get to their final destination.Sarah JacobsMaria Torres, 46, has lived in Hunts Point for 20 years."There's a tremendous concentration of truck traffic in this neighborhood," Elena Conte, the director of policy at the Pratt Center, said in an interview. "Streets are unsafe, and having the trucks travel on local streets creates conflicts for people, creates unnecessary congestion, worsens air quality, and makes it harder to walk around."The Pratt Center is part of an activist coalition, the South Bronx Watershed Alliance, that has been rallying for the Sheridan's removal since the late 1990s. The SWBA is composed of six other community groups, like the Pratt Center for Community Development and the Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice.Torres said the Sheridan made walking so difficult that she had seen elderly community members take buses to cross the Sheridan and complete everyday tasks like grocery shopping.But Torres tries to avoid the roundabout bus routes, preferring to run errands by foot, which poses its own challenges.There are parts of Hunts Point, like Torres' neighborhood, where the Sheridan is elevated.She said trying to cross under it felt unsafe because of the number of lanes and low lighting."It is hard," she said. "I still feel the DOT needs to get the timing down right for the lights. You still find yourself running those last couple of steps to get across."Sarah JacobsThe Hunts Point 6 subway station sits right next to the Sheridan Expressway.The intersection of Hunts Point Avenue and the Sheridan, right near a subway stop, is "one of the most dangerous intersections in all of the Bronx," Conte said."People unfortunately do regularly get killed there," Conte said.David Shuffler, the executive director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, grew up near an at-grade portion of the Sheridan Expressway, at the intersection of Bronx River Avenue and the Bruckner Expressway. Shuffler said he knew someone in his neighborhood who was hit by a car while trying to cross the street near the highway."What motivated me to get involved was survival," Shuffler said in an interview. "It was really about if folks are going to be able to live and survive."<h2>'A country shaped by cars'</h2><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/1916_Ford_Model_T_Speedster%2C_March_26%2C_1916%2C_California_%285643782311%29.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/ William Creswell</a>A 1916 Ford Model T.Moses originally intended for the Sheridan to extend to the New England Thruway, cutting right through the Bronx Zoo. But community opposition led Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to cancel the extension in 1971."This is a highway that is underused, was never fully built to its full scope," Tovar said.Roadways like the Sheridan were built for the benefit of drivers at the expense of city dwellers, a priority that can be traced all the way back to Henry Ford's Model T in the early 1900s. Public transit was no longer the primary mode of transportation; cars were seen as the future."We have a country shaped by cars like no other: drive-ins, motels, you name it," John Baick, a history professor at Western New England University, told Business Insider. "Certainly, car ownership is a very American characteristic. It's something that matches the idea of Americans as individuals, and our cars define who we are."Though mass production spurred by the Model T's assembly line helped transform the car from a luxurious ideal to an attainable goal ($895, or about $20,000 today), widespread financing of vehicles also triggered mass adoption."Cars in America were mass produced and made massively available through financing, but you see infrastructure following pretty quickly," Baick said. "It certainly matches into American patterns of consumerism - we are what we buy."<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Futurama_city.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/ Norman Bel Geddes</a>A shot of the Futurama exhibit at the 1939/40 New York World's Fair.American Highway Users Alliance, which GM founded in 1932, lobbied for tax breaks that would lead to sustained highway funding over time. GM even presented an idea for a massive highway system, dubbed Futurama, that showed interlocking highways that allowed cars to zip right through cities' cores, an idea that looked a lot like Moses' later plans.In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Interstate Highway Act, which allocated $25 billion over 10 years toward 41,000 miles of interstate highways that often went straight through neighborhoods."It's as if the car comes to dominate," Lance Freeman, a professor of urban planning at Columbia University, told Business Insider. "So it makes for a much more decentralized city … and you see certain urban design innovations that are definitely designed to [make] things more accessible for cars."<h2>Removing the Sheridan</h2>Sarah JacobsFew footpaths allow residents to cross the Sheridan. Some are dark and lined with trash.Moses' projects were born out of the notion that it was perfectly natural to build a highway straight through a city. The plight of residents wasn't a big consideration."He put down highways through communities that were politically weak, that had no means of resisting," Baick said.At one point in the 1920s, Moses was so powerful that he held different government positions simultaneously, including head of the State Parks Council and chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1218.html">the New York Times obituary for Moses</a> published in 1981."He acquired a lot of power, power that was not very accountable," Freeman said.Low-income communities of color, like the South Bronx, succumbed to Moses' grand visions."His priority was, in a way, very much prefiguring the Manhattan of today," Baick said. "One that very much catered toward upper middle class and wealthy."And when the middle class and wealthy were threatened by his plans, they fought back and won.Moses, for example, tried to build highway projects through middle-class white neighborhoods, like a proposed freeway through Washington Square Park, the center of wealthy downtown Manhattan.Community opposition scuttled the plans.Sarah JacobsHunts Point community members look at proposals for the Sheridan transformation project.The Sheridan could have consumed a lot more of the Bronx, but because it was never complete, vehicles are constantly spilling out on the streets of neighborhoods like Hunts Point.It's enough of a headache that the South Bronx has been calling for change since 1997, when New York's Department of Transportation proposed extending the Sheridan."To recommend putting more highways or expanded highways in our neighborhoods was something we were up in arms about," Shuffler said. "These highways were set up to transport people through our neighborhoods, and that's problematic for us."<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A30_years_of_progress%2C_1934-1964_-_Sheridan_Expressway_01.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/ Department of Parks</a>The Sheridan (green) was originally supposed to extend to the New England Thruway, cutting through the Bronx Zoo. The proposed extension is highlighted in red in this 1964 NYC Parks Department map.Cuomo is now budgeting for a plan that will allocate $697 million toward the first-phase of a $1.8 billion project to transform the Sheridan into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard that would also add ramps, allowing trucks to drive directly to the Food Distribution Center without cutting through the neighborhood. Some say that doesn't go far enough."Because we were calling for the full removal, that was something that we had to grapple with because it wasn't necessarily, entirely what we wanted," said Angela Tovar, director of community development at The Point, a nonprofit dedicated to the economic revitalization of Hunts Point. "But then we realized that we could still advance most of the priorities that the community had asked for through the city's process.""Since then we have been trying to make sure that that plan survives," Tovar continued.If everything goes accordingly, the Sheridan could be a success story like the Embarcadero Freeway - a roughly 1-mile, double-decker highway that was turned into a boulevard in 1990.Though many feared that the Embarcadero Freeway's removal would result in an increase in traffic, the opposite happened: It led to a revitalized neighborhood with a ferry service, pedestrians, and commercial and housing development.The same goes for Portland's Harbor Drive, a six-lane freeway removed in 1974, providing access to parks and a riverfront.The removal of the Sheridan would allow people from across the borough to access parks along the Bronx River, a once heavily polluted waterway now thriving with wildlife like herring and turtles. The hope is it would also lead to commercial development and further economic revitalization."If the Sheridan expressway were a boulevard rather than an expressway … you could possibly find a boom or boomlet in housing construction in that area," Lloyd Ultan, the Bronx borough historian, said in an interview. "It would open up access to parks in that area, which would make it more desirable."But community members are trying not to get their hopes up. It's unclear whether Cuomo's plan will result in the removal of lanes, which members of the South Bronx Watershed Alliance say is crucial to transforming the Sheridan into an accessible boulevard."If he does it right," Conte of the Pratt Center said, "it will be a tremendous benefit, and he will deserve all the credit that comes along with it." <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tuscaloosa-alabama-central-high-school-resegregation-undividing-america-2017-6">An Alabama high school 'resegregated' after years of being a model of integration - here's what happened after</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

A hated, mile-long highway shows an overlooked problem with America's infrastructure - but it could soon come crumbling down

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">ReutersA worker unpacks televisions at a Sears in Schaumburg, Illinois, near Chicago.</div></div></div>Sears just closed dozens of stores.The chain said in April that it would accelerate the closing of 78 stores, including 10 Sears stores and 68 Kmart stores. All but two were expected to close in late July.Sears has been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/people-prefer-goodwill-to-sears-2016-2">struggling</a>.In the most recent quarter, Sears' sales dropped 8.3% to $5.39 billion. Same-store sales dropped 7.1% at the company's namesake stores and fell 5% at Kmart stores. In announcing earnings, the company revealed that its chief financial officer, Robert Schriesheim, would be leaving Sears to "pursue other career opportunities."The company didn't say how many employees would be laid off as a result of the store closures."The decision to close stores is a difficult but necessary step as we take aggressive actions to strengthen our company, fund our transformation and restore Sears Holdings to profitability," Sears CEO Edward S. Lampert said in a statement earlier this year. "We're focusing on our best members, our best categories and our best stores as we work to accelerate our transformation."Here's a list of the stores that were on schedule to close in late July, including two that will close in September:Alabama<ul><li>Sears: 700 Quintard Drive, Oxford</li><li>Kmart: 5980 Chalkville Mountain Road, Birmingham</li><li>Kmart: 1101 Beltline Road, Decatur</li><li>Kmart: 230 Green Springs Highway, Homewood</li><li>Kmart: 450 Z Schillingers Road, Mobile</li></ul>Arizona<ul><li>Kmart: 300 W. Mariposa Road, Nogales</li></ul>Arkansas<ul><li>Sears: 600 S. University Ave., Little Rock</li></ul>California<ul><li>Kmart: 2270 E. El Monte Way, Dinuba</li><li>Kmart: 520 S. Cherokee Lane, Lodi</li><li>Kmart: 1475 Hillman St., Tulare</li><li>Kmart: 2785 Highway 46, Wasco</li></ul>Connecticut<ul><li>Kmart: 44 Providence Pike, Putnam</li></ul>Florida<ul><li>Sears: 9501 Arlington Expressway, Jacksonville</li><li>Kmart: 9600 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville</li><li>Kmart: 500 Atlantic Blvd., Neptune Beach</li><li>Kmart: 1809 S. Byron Butler Parkway, Perry</li></ul>Illinois<ul><li>Kmart: 7050 S. Pulaski Road, Chicago</li><li>Kmart: 2721 N. Vermilion St., Danville</li><li>Kmart: 1150 W. Carl Sandburg Drive, Galesburg</li><li>Kmart: 17355 Torrence Ave., Lansing</li><li>Kmart: 2909 Court St., Pekin</li><li>Kmart: 3840 46th Ave., Rock Island</li></ul>Indiana<ul><li>Kmart: 3216 E. Third Street, Bloomington</li><li>Kmart: 3525 Grant Line Road, New Albany</li></ul>Kansas<ul><li>Kmart: 1320 E. 30th Ave., Hutchinson</li></ul>Kentucky<ul><li>Kmart: 1809 N. Dixie Highway, Elizabethtown</li><li>Kmart: 4025 Poplar Level Road, Louisville</li><li>Kmart: 3911 Taylorsville Road, Louisville</li><li>Kmart: 1581 US 68 S., Maysville</li><li>Kmart: 344 North Mayo Trail, Paintsville</li></ul>Louisiana<ul><li>Sears: 5953 W. Park Ave., Houma</li><li>Kmart: 2985 Cottingham Expressway, Pineville</li></ul>Massachusetts<ul><li>Kmart: 10 Main St., Tewksbury</li></ul>Michigan<ul><li>Sears: 6810 Eastman Ave., Midland</li><li>Kmart: 8171 W. Houghton Lake Drive, Houghton Lake</li><li>Super K: 21111 Van Born Road, Taylor (set to close in September)</li></ul>Missouri<ul><li>Kmart: 11978 St. Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton</li><li>Kmart: 1930 E. Kearney St., Springfield</li></ul>Mississippi<ul><li>Kmart: 118 Highway 72 W., Corinth</li></ul>Montana<ul><li>Kmart: 2424 Central Ave., Billings</li></ul>North Carolina<ul><li>Kmart: 804 N. Broad St., Brevard</li><li>Kmart: 3580 E. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia</li><li>Kmart: 2750 Roberts Ave., Lumberton</li><li>Kmart: 10500 Centrum Parkway, Pineville</li><li>Kmart: 720 Sutter's Creek Blvd., Rocky Mount</li></ul>Nebraska<ul><li>Kmart: 3001 W. 12th St., Hastings</li></ul>New York<ul><li>Sears: 200 Medley Centre Parkway, Irondequoit</li><li>Sears: 60 Smithfield Blvd., Plattsburgh</li><li>Kmart: 838 South Road, Poughkeepsie</li><li>Kmart: 3049 W. Ridge Road, Rochester</li></ul>Ohio<ul><li>Sears: 1377 Marion-Waldo Road, Marion</li><li>Super K: 3315 N. Ridge Road E., Ashtabula</li><li>Kmart: 1705 N. Barron St., Eaton</li><li>Kmart: 1825 N. State Route 19, Fremont</li><li>Kmart: 2250 Harding Highway, Lima</li><li>Super K: 5350 N. Leavitt Road, Lorain (set to close in September)</li><li>Kmart: 625 W. Central Ave., Springboro</li></ul>Pennsylvania<ul><li>Sears: 101 Clearview Circle, Butler</li><li>Sears: 2500 W. State St., New Castle</li><li>Kmart: 2660 Constitution Blvd., Beaver Falls</li><li>Kmart: 8800 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia</li><li>Kmart: 3000 McIntyre Square Drive, Pittsburgh</li><li>Kmart: 1775 S. Braddock Ave., Pittsburgh</li><li>Kmart: 3045 N. Fifth St. Highway, Reading</li><li>Kmart: 99 Matthews Drive, Uniontown</li></ul>South Carolina<ul><li>Kmart: 2209 W. Dekalb St., Camden</li></ul>South Dakota<ul><li>Kmart: 1000 18th St. SW, Huron</li><li>Kmart: 2210 Broadway St., Yankton</li></ul>Tennessee<ul><li>Kmart: 1802 Decatur Pike, Athens</li><li>Kmart: 945 McCammon Ave., Maryville</li><li>Kmart: 902 S. Main St., Sweetwater</li></ul>Texas<ul><li>Kmart: 11330 Montwood Drive, El Paso</li><li>Kmart: 1405 E. Expressway 83, Mission</li><li>Kmart: 210 SE Georgia Ave., Sweetwater</li></ul>Utah<ul><li>Kmart: 1055 E. Draper Parkway, Draper</li><li>Kmart: 610 W. Price River Drive, Price</li><li>Kmart: 1442 W 9000 S., West Jordan</li></ul>Wisconsin<ul><li>Kmart: 1275 Bell Ave., Hartford</li></ul> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-kmart-stores-closing-locations-2016-2">Find out if you live near one of the Sears or Kmart stores closing this year </a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hvaml0MDE6x-dJRsqXSgOC91vGGRc5j6" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Sears and Kmart just closed nearly 80 stores - see if your local store is on the list

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.stonecrestga.gov/default.html">City of Stonecrest</a>Stonecrest, Georgia.</div></div></div><ul><li>Atlanta is a finalist for Amazon's second headquarters. Stonecrest, a city 20 miles east of Atlanta, has included several proposals as part of the statewide bid.</li><li>In an interview with CityLab, Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary said he would try to de-annex part of the city and name it "Amazon, Georgia" if the tech giant came. Stonecrest is also proposing a shipping distribution highway called "1000 Jeff Bezos Parkway."</li><li>Georgia's bid signifies the lengths local politicians are willing to go to land HQ2.</li></ul>The competition for <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/AMZN-Quote">Amazon's</a> second headquarters, known as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/amazon-hq2">HQ2</a>, is heating up.Earlier this year, the tech giant <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hq2-20-finalist-cities-revealed-2018-1">announced 20 metro areas</a> as finalists for the $5 billion campus, which is expected to bring <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-headquarters-automation-robots-cities-2017-12">50,000 jobs</a> over the next 10 to 15 years. One of those frontrunners is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-headquarters-atlanta-bid-hq2-2017-12">the Atlanta, Georgia area</a>, which submitted a bid that includes a few proposals from the outlying city of Stonecrest.Stonecrest outlined several perks that the tech giant could receive if it chooses Georgia as its second home.In <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/03/how-to-start-your-own-city/556286/">an interview with CityLab's Brentin Mock</a>, Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary said he would de-annex 345 acres (about 15 million square feet) of Stonecrest and name the new city "Amazon, Georgia." This area, which is mostly industrial, would serve as part or all of the HQ2 site. <a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/Anything/test/images/usa/RFP_3._V516043504_.pdf?tag=bisafetynet2-20">In Amazon's RFP</a>, the company said it would need up to 8 million square feet of open space by 2027."We'll have to create [Amazon, Georgia] through the legislature, and since I'm the architect of this city, I know how to do that," Lary told CityLab. "You de-annex 345 acres, then you get the [state] senators and the House of Representatives to support it. And with a $5 billion investment at stake, it has a good chance of happening." In addition, Stonecrest would create an expressway and name it after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Lary said."They could have their own shipping distribution highway called 1000 Jeff Bezos Parkway," he told CityLab. "How neat would that be?"Stonecrest is a new city, so it might not be as crazy as it sounds to make such big changes. Residents of the formerly unincorporated area of southeast DeKalb County <a href="https://politics.myajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/stonecrest-and-south-fulton-formed-new-cities-but-what-comes-next/K1E8RXkkNRumfFVUdtfaSL/">voted in November 2016 to officially incorporate into a city</a>, a move that took effect in 2017.While Amazon, Georgia is just a hypothetical at this point, it's not unheard of in the US to create a municipality and name it after a CEO. The practice was more common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, however. Over the past 200 years, companies across the US have built company towns - municipalities where they own large chunks of housing, stores, schools, churches, roads, and parks. When these towns were founded, the corporation was also often the largest employer. Examples include <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/company-town-history-facebook-2017-9#hershey-pennsylvania-by-the-hershey-company-1909-4">Hershey, Pennsylvania</a> (named after the famed chocolatier Milton Hershey in the early 1900s) and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/company-town-history-facebook-2017-9#lowell-massachusetts-by-the-merrimack-manufacturing-company-1823-1">Lowell, Massachusetts</a> (named after Francis Cabot Lowell, the late founder of Boston Manufacturing Company, in 1823).There is also a history in the US of public infrastructure - a proposed highway in this case - being named after CEOs. A section of California's Highway 87 in San Jose was given the namesake of <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/02/28/part-of-highway-87-to-be-named-for-ex-hp-ceo-lewis-platt/">ex-HP CEO Lewis Platt</a> in 2008, while a four-lane stretch of a highway near Neodesha, Kansas honors <a href="https://www.tradeonlytoday.com/manufacturers/highway-kansas-named-cobalt-ceo">Cobalt Boats founder and CEO Pack St. Clair</a>.But unlike Bezos, these CEOs had some connection to the area before the highways were built. In 1996, Platt worked as fundraising chair on a Santa Clara County campaign for highway and transit improvements, and personally raised $900,000. Cobalt Boats started manufacturing high-end speedboats in Neodesha in the late 1960s. Beyond the prospect of Amazon coming to Georgia, Bezos has no direct relationship to the state. (The company has a few warehouses in Georgia, like it does in nearly every US state.)1000 Jeff Bezos Parkway sounds like it would be exclusively for Amazon's shipping operations, rather than for public use. But to build it, Stonecrest could use public funds in the form of local subsidies.Though Georgia's bid has not yet been made public, Governor Nathan Deal has <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/local/reed-georgia-leaving-nothing-the-table-hunt-for-amazon-hq2/JH6ImvIEBPwB1D8929iSjM/">implied that the state is aggressively pursuing HQ2</a> with economic and infrastructure incentives. At a recent city event, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed also said the state and city are offering <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/local/reed-georgia-leaving-nothing-the-table-hunt-for-amazon-hq2/JH6ImvIEBPwB1D8929iSjM/">incentives and infrastructure improvements</a> that total more than $1 billion.The state's bid includes urban and suburban sites and emphasizes the region's transit and airport facilities, workforce, and research universities, Atlanta's Deputy Commissioner of Global Commerce Tom Croteau <a href="https://www.wabe.org/ga-officials-expect-amazon-team-visit-potential-hq2-sites-soon/">told</a> the agency's board of directors at a recent meeting in Midtown Atlanta.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Hillwood UrbanA screenshot from Dallas' HQ2 bid.</div></div></div>Stonecrest's proposals highlight the extreme lengths that cities are willing to go in order to land HQ2. New Jersey is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hq2-chris-christie-wants-new-jersey-2017-10https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-16/christie-backs-newark-s-amazon-bid-with-7-billion-in-tax-breaks">promising $7 billion in tax breaks</a>; New York City is offering <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-headquarters-city-proposals-hq2-2017-10/#new-york-city-a-bid-that-includes-possible-sites-in-three-boroughs-6">over 26 million square feet</a> of space across three boroughs; and Dallas-area developers are <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2017/09/28/texas-high-speed-rail-making-play-for-amazon-s-hq2.html">pitching a transit-oriented development</a> that would include a bullet train for Amazon's campus.Amazon is currently touring its finalist cities and will make its decision in 2018. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s9-review-best-worst-features-2018-3">The best and worst features of the Samsung Galaxy S9</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

An HQ2 finalist wants to name a city after Amazon and create a highway called 'Jeff Bezos Parkway'

Gymboree is closing 350 stores - here's the full list

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>It isn't a sports sedan. It isn't an SUV. I'm not sure that it's even a BMW, given my experience of looking at the German automaker's luxury cars.This is what the BMW X6 M is: a "sport activity coupe," or SAC. It's certainly the oddest segment in the motoring world, outside "shooting brakes" (two-door station wagons) and limos with hot tubs.BMW has pretty well owned the SAC space, although last year Mercedes rolled out its GLE Coupe to challenge the bimmermeisters for supremacy.There's the standard-issue X6, and there's the X6 M, given more warp and woof (much, much more woof) by BMW's M performance division. The run-of-the-mill X6 starts at about $61,000, but once the M dudes get finished with the car, BMW will sell it to you for $115,000 - nicely equipped, as in the case of the "Long Beach blue metallic" version with "Aragon brown full merino leather" interior I recently tested.What does the extra $54,150 get you? Mind-bending, borderline disturbing things, as it turns out. You could buy another car or two, obviously, with the difference. But then you'd be deprived of a driving experience so strange that, well, you'll feel incomplete. That is, if you need to drive an un-SUV four-door super-coupe that can give you whiplash if you aren't careful with the throttle and that should inspire confidence going around corners but with a curb weight of 5,300 lbs. and the stance of a draught horse crossed with Optimus Prime, doesn't.The X6 M certainly is fun in a straight line, however. The growling, 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 creates a Matterhorn of torque when you're tooling around on the highway in the placid confines of gear eight and decide to flick it down five whole shifts to third, squeezing the throttle and unleashing the crazy. This car's middle name is "GO!"<h2>Breaking up?</h2>Actually, all of its names are "GO!" The g's come quick - quickest if you're in "Sport Plus" mode across the board, but fairly swiftly even when you're in "Comfort." You're ultimately not going that fast. But you are accelerating at a borderline alarming pace. It sticks in you head. You're used to this kind of thing if you're driving an M4 coupe (I recently drove the convertible version). In the X6 M, the velocity scrambles your thinking. You're supposed to bond with the furious power of BMW's M cars. But with the X6 M, I kind of wanted a divorce.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The X6 M is an engineering fever dream. There's no reason not to treat it like a jolly old freeway cruiser. God knows I tried, making a run from New York City to the Hamptons on the Long Island Expressway (I've done this in two Corvettes and a Ferrari, by the way, and they slipped easily into their six-lane alter egos as Buicks). But that unholy turbo V8 in the X6 M taunts you. Slip the gearbox out of manual mode, adjust all the driving settings to the calmest possible modes, order up "Watercolors" on SiriusXM radio, and heck, switch on the cruise control - but no.The mollified torque still looms like a wild animal stuffed under the hood. The car almost jerks. In fact, it does jerk, like an over-caffeinated panther with fast-twitch muscles. It seems coiled and ireful even when it isn't supposed to. It put me in the mind of the Incredible Hulk, mid-metamorphosis: It's almost as if those deeply rational BMW engineers decided to give free reign to something they'd rather not openly discuss. When you pop the hood, you expect to see molten lava. You can't understand why a fearsome plume of black smoke isn't coming from someplace.<h2>Bizarre styling</h2>The X6 M looks like a warrior who has showered off the blood of his enemies and slipped into a well-tailored Hugo Boss suit. It looks like it was made by Hot Wheels. It looks vaguely militaristic (it could intimidate a Hummer). All it needs its a cape. It makes an angry sound, its tires are too big and wide and fat, and the styling is thrusty and frankly bizarre. You kind of don't want to look at it. But then you do. And you sort of wish you hadn't.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Inside, BMW has done the usual BMW thing and made sure that as the driver of the Ultimate Driving Machine, you feel immediately familiar with the setup. The seat, the steering wheel, the paddle shifters, the instruments, the center console - you're enveloped in a reassuring, driver-centric BMW-ness. The leather upholstery is supple, carbon-fiber accents are present and skirt that line between stimulating and excessive, and for everyone else in then car the environment is comfortable. Cargo space is adequate, if not abundant.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Mind you, the X6 M is a potent piece of hardware. The V8 cranks out 567 horsepower - over 100 more than the Corvette Stingray! Why? Another 93 equestrians and you're talking about a Corvette Z06. Add three more hp and you're got a Ferrari 458. The X6 M does the 550-horsepower Range Rover Sport SVR 17 hp better. This is a mighty Wagnerian poleaxe of a motor. One doesn't want to argue with it. <h2>Luxury to spare</h2>It also ticks off every imaginable luxury box. The infotainment system is BMW's and still hard to use, but it does everything it's supposed to. The sounds system is lovely. The interior styling cues get the "M" treatment, with blue and red stitching on the steering wheel and "M" badges tucked here and there. The seats have many adjustable positions, and they are heated, and they are cooled. The rear seats are quite nice, and the rear climate controls, for what it's worth, are the best I've ever seen.Still, that engine! With great power comes great responsibility. Under normal driving conditions, you can make use of about a tenth of what I suspect the X6 M can mete out. Nevertheless, as with the Corvette Z06 and the 650-horsepower active volcano many mistake for its powerplant, you aren't so much driving a car as keeping a leash on the three-headed hound that guards the approaches to the Underworld. Setting it free seems, always, like a very, very bad idea. Plus, it occupies acres of attention span. Daydreaming while driving is not advised.It's almost like the Masters of M decided that they just weren't being taken seriously enough. Too many people had the wrong idea about what a BMW actually is. Remember the sweet little BMW 2002 of the 1970s, that spry and peppy sports sedan that defined what Bayerische Motoren Werke meant to its earliest adopters?The X6 M ate the BMW 2002 and kept right on chewing. If the dystopia envisioned by "Mad Max" ever comes to pass, expect to see the X6 M among the survivors. The "sport" part of "sport utility coupe," in light of the X6 M's overall attitude, seems pathetically quaint. What "sport" does BMW have in mind? ICBM racing? Dodge ball with meteors?<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><h2>Who would buy this thing?</h2>I simply don't understand what you would do with a car like this (although when it comes to the regular X6, many customers know exactly what they want to do and are delighted to buy the car, which has been selling well). It isn't roomy enough to function as an SUV. It doesn't really make you happy to look at it. Trying to cruise around in it induces anxiety. It doesn't want you to become one with its bimmerness.Nothing bad will happen if you take a corner with a bit too much enthusiasm - the technocratic all-wheel-drive system supplies a check - but why would you risk it? It can't be a family car because is actually something that you keep in the basement and cut loose when the Four Horsemen appear on the horizon. My children fell asleep in the back seat. I thought they were fools.When I return a test car, especially a high-performance luxury machine, I'm generally a little sad. Not this time. I dropped the X6 M off at the garage. I didn't look back. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bmw-i8-hybrid-review-test-drive-specs-2015-6">BMW made the first hybrid you won't be embarrassed to be seen driving</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="AxaWtndTpcVX4wDTKSWkDYOO7uFhNrt3" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "8 lane expressway" and got 13 results

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