Ganga Expressway

Ganga Expressway is an under-construction, long, 6-lane (expandable to 8 lanes), greenfield expressway along the Ganges River connecting eastern and western boundaries of Uttar Pradesh state in India. It constitutes two phases, almost-completed Phase-1 Meerut-Prayagraj long, and under-construction Phase-2 (Spur-1 Upper Ganges Canal Expressway from Bulandshahr-Meerut to Haridwar extension, and Spur-2 Prayagraj- Ballia Expressway extension) totalling (.

History

2007: Conception

In 2007, Ganga Expressway was initially proposed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (CM), Mayawati as Greater Noida– Ballia Expressway, but remained stalled.

2019: Project revival

In 2019 the project was revived by the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who allocated the first installation of budget of ₹2,000 crores for the construction of Phase-1 in 2020. Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) is the government agency responsible for the project.

2019-2026: Phase-1 construction

The total expected project cost in 2021 was ₹37,350 crores, including the land acquisition cost of around ₹9,500 crores. In 2019, the land acquisition commenced and progressed regularly, which was mostly completed by 2021 In 2021 the environmental clearance from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change was obtained and Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved ₹36,230 crore budget to build the expressway. On 18 December 2021, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone in Shahjahanpur, the construction work started in April 2022.

UPEIDA divided the Phase-1 construction work into 12 packages to be constructed on Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) Model. The list of Phase-1 contractors is as follows:

2025 onwards: Phase-2 construction

Phase-2 was approved in January 2025, paving the way for preparation of pre-construction DPR (Detailed Project Report).

Route

Phase-1

Main route

The 594 km long Ganga Expressway Phase-1 alignment, from west to east, is as follows:

* Meerut district
** Bijauli village near Kharkhauda on NH-334.

* Hapur district
** Simbhaoli

* Bulandshahr district
** Hingwara, Upper Ganga Canal Expressway begins here.
** Siana village, via the Siyana-Rukhalu bridge the expressway crosses from west to the east side of Ganga river.

* Amroha district (Jyotiba Phule Nagar District )
** Rukhalu village, via the Siyana-Rukhalu bridge the expressway crosses from west to the east side of Ganga river.

* Sambhal district
** Isapur Sunwari
** Chandausi

* Budaun district
** Binawar
** Dataganj

* Shahjahanpur district
** Jalalabad

* Hardoi district
** Sandi
** Bilgram

* Unnao district
** Unnao city

* Raebareli district
** Dalmau
** Unchahar
** Balipur

* Pratapgarh
** Lalganj

* Prayagraj district
** Judapur Dandu village near Soraon on NH-19

Spurs

* Ganga-Yamuna Expressway (Bulandshahr-Noida Expressway): 74.3 km long, 120 metre wide, Rs 4,000 cr expressway, from Siyana northeast of Bulandshahr on Ganga Expressway to Yamuna Expressway at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida, thus providing connectivity to Noida Airport, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Western Peripheral Expressway and Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. Land acquisition commenced in 2025.Yeida okays new E-way alignment to link airport with Ganga Expressway
Hindustan Times, 8 Apr 2025.

Phase-1 interchanges

The types of interchanges are listed west to east:

Legends: NH is National Highways, SH is State Highways, MDR is Major District Road, and ODR is Other District Road.

* Delhi–Meerut Expressway, dummy interchange (direct connectivity)
* NH-334 Meerut – Hapur, Trumpet interchange.
* NH-24 Hapur–Garhmukteshwar, Diamond interchange.
* SH-65 Bulandshahr–Garhmukteshwar, Diamond interchange.
* MDR-162W Hasanpur-Anupshahar, Diamond interchange.
* ODR Anupshahr–Moradabad, Diamond interchange.
* NH-509 Babrala–Chandausi, Double Trumpet interchange.
* SH-125 Chandausi–Budaun, Diamond interchange.
* SH-33 Budaun–Bareilly Double Trumpet interchange.
* SH-29 Farukkhabad–Shahjahanpur, Double Trumpet interchange.
* SH-138 Farukkhabad–Shahbad, Diamond interchange.
* SH-21 Kannauj– Hardoi, Double Trumpet interchange.
* Agra–Lucknow Expressway, Double Trumpet interchange.
* NH-27 Kanpur–Lucknow, Diamond interchange.
* NH-31 Lalganj–Raebareli, Double Trumpet interchange.
* NH-30 Raebareli–Unchahar, Double Trumpet interchange.

* Yamuna Expressway, via spur to Noida Airport.

Phase-2

Main route

The Phase-2, of 453 km length, includes the following extensions.Ganga Expressway extension: NCR to Bihar set to get one new route with announcement of 2 big expressways
NDTV, 23 Jan 2025. Please help expand the exact alignment with important towns and intersections with NH, SH, and expressways along the way.

=Meerut-Haridwar: Upper Ganges Canal Expressway

=

Upper Ganges Canal Expressway (Spur-1 or ''Hapur Expressway'' or ''Bulandshahr-Meerut-Haridwar Expressway''): The Government of Uttar Pradesh decided to extend the project on either ends i.e. Meerut to Haridwar. At Haridwar it will connect to the Char Dham Highway and Char Dham Railway.

= Prayagraj-Ballia

=

Prayagraj-Ballia Expressway (Spur-2): Prayagraj to Ballia via Varanasi.

Spurs

Please help expand this by listing additional spurs off the two planned extensions (Meerut-Haridwar and Prayagraj-Ballia):

Phase-2 interchanges

Listed west to east (please help expand the partial list):

* Upper Ganges Canal Expressway (Meerut-Haridwar section):
** Delhi–Dehradun Expressway (Saharanpur-Haridwar Spur)
** Char Dham Highway

* Prayagraj-Ballia section:
** NH-31

Economic use

Ganga Industrial corridor

Area along the Ganga Expressway is being developed as the industrial corridor. New Industries are coming up around Meerut, Baduan, Kanpur, Varanasi and Prayagraj. and there are government plans to setup the pharma parks, textile parks, IT parks along the Ganga Expressway.

* Meerut, In 2023, Uttar Pradesh government acquired the land to set up an industrial city in Meerut, adjacent to entry and exit points of the expressway.

* Kanpur, after the completion of both phases, will serve as a major node for economic and industrial activity, as it will be the central point of the expressway, with many projects planned in the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Awadh Expressway region.

Military airstrip

Sections of Ganga Expressway have bene constructed to operate as the airstip for the Indian Military. Indian Air Force fighter jets and transport aircraft conducted landing and take-off drills on 2 May 2025 from a -long Emergency Landing Facility on the Expressway near Shahjahanpur with several types of aircraft which included Su-30MKI, Mirage 2000, MiG-29, Jaguar, C-130J Super Hercules, An-32, and the Mi-17 V5 helicopter.

Current status

Phase-1

* Main route
** 2025 Jun: Overall 84% complete, including 99% earthwork, 94% GSB, 93% WMM, 91% DBM, 1475 structures completed out of total 1500,{{Cite web , title=Ganga Expressway {{! Official Website of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority, Government of Uttar Pradesh, India. Setup by State Government under UP Industrial Area Development Act-1976 , url=https://upeida.up.gov.in/en/page/ganga-expressway , website=upeida.up.gov.in with likely completion date of December 2025.

* Spur
** 2025 Apr: Land acquisition commenced for the "Ganga-Yamuna Expressway" (Bulandshahr-Noida Expressway) for connecting Ganga Expressway to Yamuna Expressway and thus to Noida Airport.

Phase-2

* 2025 Jan: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved both the phase-2 extensions, paving the way for construction.

See also

* Expressways in Uttar Pradesh

** Ludhiana-Siliguri Industrial Corridor
*** Gorakhpur–Siliguri Expressway
*** Ambala-Shamli Expressway

** Purvanchal Expressway

** Bundelkhand Expressway

* Expressways in India

References

Proposed expressways in India
Expressways in Uttar Pradesh
Transport in Prayagraj
Transport in Meerut
Proposed infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh