India’s longest expressway running 302 km and connecting Agra and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh is now open for public. The state Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, inaugurated the expressway on Monday in a show of unity ahead of the state elections in 2017.
Eight fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) touched down the expressway at Unnao – around 50 km from Lucknow.
In a first for any road launch, four Sukhoi jets flew down from Bareilly and four Mirage 2000s from Gwalior. However, due to a stray dog in its way, the first Sukhoi could not land at once.
The expressway has six lanes. It was completed in a record 23 months – and is expected to reduce travel time between Delhi and Lucknow from nine to around five hours.
The Lucknow-Agra Expressway is one of the major infrastructural initiatives of the Akhilesh Yadav government.
(With ANI inputs)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)