Uttar Pradesh: Transport and Communication - 1 | Course for UPPSC Preparation - UPPSC (UP) PDF Download

Transport initiates the movement of commodities and people from one place to another. Uttar Pradesh has a well defined transport system. It has an impressive network of roadways, railways, airways and waterways.

Transport System in Uttar Pradesh

1. Road Transport 
2. Rail Transport
3. Air Transport 
4. Water Transport

Road Transport
Uttar Pradesh has second largest road network in India after Maharashtra. The total road length of the state is about 18.37 lakh km. The state is well connected to its nine neighbouring states and almost all other parts of India through the National Highways. The road transport in Uttar Pradesh consist of about 70% of the total transport network.
The major types of roads running in the state are National Highways, Expressways, State Highways, District roads and Village roads.

National Highways

• These roads connect state capitals, parts and foreign highways. As per the National Highways Authority of India (November, 2018), the total length of National Highways in Uttar Pradesh is 11,736.8 km.
• There are 81 National Highways in the state. The longest National Highway in the state is NH-34, with the length of 723.4 km and the smallest National Highway is NH-219 with the length of 5 km. National Highways are managed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Some National Highways passing through the state are as follows:


Expressways
It is a 6 lane highway. In Uttar Pradesh, the first expressway was constructed between Noida and Greater Noida in the year 2003-04. On 27th December, 2007, the Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority was constituted for the development of expressways.
Major Expressways 
Major expressways of the state are as follows: 

• Yamuna (Taj) Expressway 
  This expressway is a 6 lane controlled access expressway, connecting Greater Noida with Agra. It stretches to 165 km and connects international tourist destinations, Delhi and Agra. The expressway was inaugurated on 9th August, 2012. In May 2015, an Indian Airforce fighter plane ‘Mirage 2000’, successfully landed on the Yamuna expressway, near Raya village, Mathura. 
• Ganga Expressway 
  It is an eight lane access controlled expressway of 1,047 km. It will connect Greater Noida to Ballia along with Varanasi, Prayagraj, Raebareli, Kanpur, Farrukhabad and Bulandshahar. 
• Delhi-Meerut Expressway 
  It is India’s widest 96 km long controlled access expressway connecting Delhi with Meerut. This 8 lane old expressway would be widened to 14 lanes. It is divided into 4 parts i.e. Nizamuddin to Uttar Pradesh border, Uttar Pradesh border to Dasna, Dasna to Hapur and Hapur to Meerut. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 12th May, 2018. It is the first expressway in which cycle track is also constructed.
  Cycle Track 
  Asia’s longest Cycle Highway Track was inaugurated in Agra, on 27th November, 2016 by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. It is India’s first cycle highway track. It was constructed by Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department, from Agra to Etawah. It has total length of 207 km and width of 7 ft.  
• Agra-Lucknow Expressway 
  This expressway is a 302 km tolled controlled-access highway, constructed by Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority. It is the longest expressway in India. It is a 6 lane expressway which is expandable to 8 lane in future. It was completed and inaugurated on 21st November, 2016. This expressway connects Agra and Lucknow with Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur, Unnao and Hardoi. A 3 km stretch airstrip has been built for war like emergencies in this expressway. 
• Upper Ganga Canal Expressway 
  It is also an 8 lane access controlled expressway on the bank of Upper Ganga canal from Sanauta bridge (Bulandshahar) to Purkazi (Muzaffarnagar). The expressway connects National Capital Region (NCR) with Western Uttar Pradesh. It is planned to stretch from Bulandshahar (Uttar Pradesh) to Haridwar (Uttarakhand) through Muzaffarnagar and Roorkee in India. The total length of this expressway is 216 km in Uttar Pradesh. It includes an expressway of 149 km and a link expressway of 65 km. The State Government proposes to connect this expressway with Eastern Peripheral Expressway. 
• Eastern Peripheral Expressway 
  It is a 6 lane expressway passing through the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It covers Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh. It is 135 km long. It consists of two sections i.e. 86 km long Palwal-Ghaziabad Section and 49 km long Ghaziabad-Sonipat section. It was opened from 27th May, 2018. 
• Delhi Noida Direct Flyway (DND) 
  The DND Flyway is an 8 lane, 10.2 km access controlled expressway which connects Delhi to Noida, an industrial suburb area. It was built and is maintained by The Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited. It was opened from 19th January, 2008.

Proposed Expressway 
Proposed Expressways in Uttar Pradesh are as follows: 

• Bundelkhand Expressway 
  This expressway is a proposed 289 km, 4-lane access-controlled highway in Uttar Pradesh. It was announced in 2017. It will connect Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur, Jalaun and Auraiya districts. 
• Purvanchal Expressway 
  This expressway is an under construction 6-lane divided and access-controlled highway in Uttar Pradesh. This expressway will connect the historical towns of Ghazipur and Azamgarh with the state capital Lucknow. The total length of the expressway would be 343 km. 
• Prayag Expressway 
  This expressway is a proposed 150 km, four lane access-controlled highway in Uttar Pradesh. It will connect Lucknow to Prayagraj. 
• Link Expressway 
  It is a proposed 89 km, 4-lane access-controlled highway in Uttar Pradesh. It will connect Gorakhpur to Azamgarh.  
  Golden Quadrilateral
  The Golden Quadrilateral is a National Highway network connecting the four major metro cities of India, i.e. Delhi (North), Kolkata (East), Mumbai (West) and Chennai (South). It is the largest highway project in India and the fifth longest in the world. It is a four and six-lane express highways. It was started in 2000 by Government of India. Two corridors are proposed under the project, first corridor is North-South and it connects Srinagar (Jammu-Kashmir) to Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu) and 2nd corridor is East-West, it connects Silchar (Assam) to Porbandar (Gujarat).
  These two corridors cut each other in Jhansi Janpad. The East-West corridor, after centering the state from the East follows the National Highway 28 till Lucknow and NH 25 till Jhansi. The Golden Quadrilateral road leading to Delhi-Kolkata, firstly enters in Varanasi in the state. It meets East-West corridor in Kanpur and follows NH-2 till Delhi.

State Highways
State Highways connect the capital, headquarters of districts and towns in the state. There are 83 state highways in the Uttar Pradesh. Total length of the State Highways in Uttar Pradesh is 8,432 km.
Major State Highways in the state are as follows:

• SH-1 The total length of SH-13 is 154 km. It passes through Maharajaganj, Gorakhpur, Ballia and Deoria. 
• SH-5 The total length of SH-13 is 350 km. It is a major highway of the state. It passes through Siddharthnagar, Basti, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra. 
• SH-13 The total length of SH-13 is 228 km. It passes through Barabanki, Raebareli, Bahraich, Fatehpur and Banda. 
• SH-21 It has total length of 385 km. It passes through Lakhimpur-Kheri, Hardoi, Kannauj, Auraiya, Sitapur, Jalaun, Hamirpur and Mahoba. 
• SH-33 It passes through Badaun, Kasganj, Bareilly, Meerut and Sikandra Rao.

District Roads

• These are important roads within a district connecting areas of production with markets and connecting with the State Highways and National Highways. It is maintained by the Zila Parishad. 
• District roads are classified into two types, major district roads and other district roads. It also connects the administrative centre headquarters, and rural areas within the state. 
• According to Public Works Department (PWD), the total length of the district roads in Uttar Pradesh is 55,062 km.  

Village Roads 

• It connects one village with other. It is a low traffic road. It is poor in shape and quality. For the development of rural/village roads, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was launched in December, 2000 by the Indian Government.
• It provides connectivity to unconnected rural habitation. These roads are maintained by Village Panchayats. Lucknow Plan was started from 1981 to 2001 for the development of village roads.

Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) 

Passenger road transport services in the state was started on 15th May, 1947 with the operation of bus service on the Lucknow-Barabanki route by the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh Government Roadways.
Subsequently, during the Fourth Five Year Plan, the erstwhile Government Roadways was renamed as Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation on 1st June, 1972 under the provision of the Road Transports Act, 1950.
Each region has been further divided into operational units called depots. The total number of depots in the corporation is 106, including car-section. The headquarters of the corporation is situated in Lucknow. It provides the following facilities: 

• Mahanagriye (Metro) Bus Sewa The Mahanagriye (Metro) Bus Sewa has been started in seven metropolitan cities (Lucknow, Agra, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kanpur, Meerut and Ghaziabad) and city of Mathura as well as industrial city of Gautam Buddh Nagar of the state. 
• Jan Rath Bus Sewa UPSRTC manages the less rent Jan Rath AC buses which were started from January, 2015. The buses are operating from Lucknow and Ghaziabad. 
• Lohia Grameen Bus Sewa UPSRTC started 13 new buses under ‘Lohia Grameen Bus Sewa’. The buses are to be supplied as part of rural bus service. These are expected to connect the city to non-descript areas. The bus service had started from February, 2015. These vehicles are named as ‘Meri Bus Mera Maarg’. 
• Radio Taxi Sewa It was started on 22nd November, 2013 in Lucknow. Its aim is to provside safe, comfortable and air conditioned transport in the state. 

Uttar Pradesh Road Safety Policy, 2014

• Road Safety Policy was launched by Government of Uttar Pradesh on 22nd September, 2014 which seeks to check occurrence of street accidents and resulting mortalities. 
• Uttar Pradesh is the first state in India which had launched Road Safety Policy. For NH-2 and NH-25, the first Highway Police have been constituted.