Yamuna Expressway (Uttar Pradesh)

It’s the poster boy of the country’s infra projects, costing a whopping Rs 13,000 crore while 4,406 hectares had to be acquired to see it through. The 6-lane and 165 km long expressway runs all the way from the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway near Pari Chowk to Agra (near NH-2) and passes through Gautam Buddha Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura and Hathras on its way – taking around 100-120 minutes instead of the earlier commute of 4 hours.

The expressway lies between the left bank of the river Yamuna and the Old Grand Trunk Road (NH-91). Construction work for the e-way started in August 2008 and the road was opened to traffic just 4 years later, on 9 August, 2012. The expressway has a design speed of 120km/h, with a posted speed limit of 100km/h for light vehicles and 60km/h for heavy vehicles. It also features 3 main toll plazas, 41 minor bridges and 70 vehicular underpasses. Safety measures have been taken to counter potential flood threats as most parts of the e-way lies on an embankment.

Built on the design, finance, build, operate and transfer (DFBOT) model, the project was developed by Jaypee Infratech. Jaypee will collect tolls for 36 years and will also develop 5 integrated townships on 500 hectares each at Noida, Jaganpur, Mirzapur, Tappal (near Aligarh) and Kuber (near Agra) for commercial, industrial and residential use.

Image: Wikimedia Commons