Varanasi: Soon it will be a smoother journey from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal as the 710-kilometre, six-lane Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway is being constructed for ease of commuters and goods vehicles moving from Varanasi to Kolkata which will trim the travel time to just six hours. The greenfield project is estimated at Rs 35,000 crore.
The foundation stone for the project, also known as Ranchi Kolkata Expressway, was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 23, 2024. This new route will be in addition to the historic Grand Trunk Road (GT Road) connecting Varanasi with Kolkata. The Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway will connect Kolkata via Varanasi, West Bengal, Ranchi and Jharkhand.
"Our greenfield project from Varanasi to Kolkata includes our 27 km project from Varanasi to Chandauli, work of which has started from January. A section of traffic on the National Highway 2 diverts to GT Road for Kolkata," SK Arya, a regional officer with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), said.
"Except for GT Road, we do not have any alternative route. The new expressway will be an alternative, reducing the traffic load on GT Road. Passengers will get two options to reach Kolkata. This is a project of about Rs 1,500 crore," Arya added.
Commuters from Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Prayag, Lucknow and Delhi will be able to go to Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Kolkata via Chandauli, avoiding coming to the middle of the city like earlier, he said.
The expressway will be directly connected to the Kolkata Expressway and will reduce the journey from Varanasi to Kolkata from 12-14 hours to six hours.
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