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In next few hours, I will touch the road driving from Noida to the
state capital Lucknow using the Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway and Agra-LucknowExpressway. This is my first trip on this segment. The intent of the trip would
be to record my experience driving on this road in a faithful Hyundai Santro
Xing GLS which is a 1086cc, 4 cylinder running on petrol / auto gas on
Bridgestone radials. This is peak of Indian Summer, with
temperature predicted north of 42 degrees Celsius. Journey starts on 21 May, 2017.
I will record my journey in the blog.
The new expressway is as new as it gets. It is still being decked up with secondary civil works and approaches are being worked on. But the core of the infrastructure is all complete and in top class. The road, dividers, lane markings, bridges, culverts are all done. The secondary items like finish to approach roads, toll plaza, public convenience, boundary fencing, embankment firming, drainage, tree plantation, street lamp, signage etc.. are being worked on. The transit from the Noida Agra Expressway to the Agra Lucknow expressway is through elevated corridors, and one need not touch down on Agra City. This expressway is as new as it gets, absolutely mint condition.
The landscape is through farmland, ravines and spread out settlements. The route is curvaceous, and not seeing human settlement on the route in one of the highest density place on earth, shows te pain the architects have taken to build the road far away from human settlement. This shows the respect for individuals whose life gets disturbed if a expressway is passing through a hearing distance from where they live. You could see lots of mango trees and eucalyptuses amidst vast farming plains. As this is peak of summer, and with very little standing crop, the scene was mostly ochre with occasional stint of green from the evergreen trees. There is not many water-bodies at sight. Fields were barren with no activities, probably because of the heat of 42 degrees Celsius and awaiting monsoon.
Why are bridges not aesthetically designed? We have two mighty rivers that crossed the route, Ganga and Yamuna, and that could have been a good opportunity to build some picturesque bridge. In the speed of development, we should also take care of the aesthetics, that generations will remember. Both these bridges were built on similar patter with 3 feet high concrete wall on the edge and leaving nothing to admire the rivers below at least from my vintage of the driver seat.
To summarize, I would capture my observations based on which I have rated this journey at 8 on a scale of 10. I look at the overall experience; the rating is good with an excellent outlook for future. Most of the development needs are already in some stage of work in progress. And the future is promising. And we wish the whole country is connected by such roads.
Log book entry from Lucknow post completion.
The 520 km journey for me started at sunrise from Noida and
reached Lucknow just after noon time. The Noida to Agra section has been
traveled a few times in the past, but the Agra to Lucknow segment was entirely
new. This is indeed a good driving experience, and with legal speed limit being
100 km per hour, and not so wavy road, the Santro proved a good companion for
this trip.
The new expressway is as new as it gets. It is still being decked up with secondary civil works and approaches are being worked on. But the core of the infrastructure is all complete and in top class. The road, dividers, lane markings, bridges, culverts are all done. The secondary items like finish to approach roads, toll plaza, public convenience, boundary fencing, embankment firming, drainage, tree plantation, street lamp, signage etc.. are being worked on. The transit from the Noida Agra Expressway to the Agra Lucknow expressway is through elevated corridors, and one need not touch down on Agra City. This expressway is as new as it gets, absolutely mint condition.
The landscape is through farmland, ravines and spread out settlements. The route is curvaceous, and not seeing human settlement on the route in one of the highest density place on earth, shows te pain the architects have taken to build the road far away from human settlement. This shows the respect for individuals whose life gets disturbed if a expressway is passing through a hearing distance from where they live. You could see lots of mango trees and eucalyptuses amidst vast farming plains. As this is peak of summer, and with very little standing crop, the scene was mostly ochre with occasional stint of green from the evergreen trees. There is not many water-bodies at sight. Fields were barren with no activities, probably because of the heat of 42 degrees Celsius and awaiting monsoon.
Why are bridges not aesthetically designed? We have two mighty rivers that crossed the route, Ganga and Yamuna, and that could have been a good opportunity to build some picturesque bridge. In the speed of development, we should also take care of the aesthetics, that generations will remember. Both these bridges were built on similar patter with 3 feet high concrete wall on the edge and leaving nothing to admire the rivers below at least from my vintage of the driver seat.
There was a stretch of concrete with temporary divider of a
moderate length. It had some odd marking, and the surface is smooth plain. Then
I realized, it is an airstrip built within the highway with numbers, letters
and big brad markers. That was something absolutely amazing and thoughtful. Not
sure if it is built for a passenger plan for emergency landing or for air Force
usage. Definitely, a dual use highway for all to see.
A query that bothered me is the extensive use of bitumen
topping for this segment of the expressway. Why not concrete topped road
instead that could require lesser maintenance in the long run? These bitumen
toppings are visibly 8 inches thick, and layers of foundation. Maybe the
architect saved few money, but bitumen is enemy of monsoon rains and this is in
the heart of the Ganga basin. This might have not been an engineering decision
but some other considerations.
To summarize, I would capture my observations based on which I have rated this journey at 8 on a scale of 10. I look at the overall experience; the rating is good with an excellent outlook for future. Most of the development needs are already in some stage of work in progress. And the future is promising. And we wish the whole country is connected by such roads.
Noida Agra Yamuna Express way that takes you to the city of Taj.
The good experience
- - Good driving experience, other drives used signals, followed lanes. Although there were some exceptional speed maniacs.
- - Cement pavement with good drainage for the entire segment. Well maintained.
- - Good number of public convenience – Rest rooms, Gas Station, Food Courts, Medical Centre
- - Multiple highway police patrol vehicles
- - Visible signage along the pavement, direction, location, distance, route, social messages
- - Efficient handling of toll plaza for collection
- - Growing Green saplings in the road dividers
- - Divider in full section with boundary fence.
- - No highway accidents were seen. Although few car break downs were seen.
The development Need
- - Road is wavy in certain segment
- - Two extra toll plaza to check the collection receipt are redundant.
- - Some jaywalkers were seen crossing the road. They probably jump boundary fence in absence of over bridge walk ways or a subway connecting settlement on both side of the highway.
- - Multiple carcass of dogs was seen. Animal intrusion need be checked.
Agra – Lucknow Expressway, India’s longest expressway of 300 km.
The good experience
- - Good black tar covered road throughout the segment. Traffic was low.
- - Multiple highway police patrol vehicles
- - No highway accidents were seen. Although few car break downs were seen.
- - Divider in full section with boundary fence.
- - No intersections in entire 300 km segment.
- - No toll today, but will start in near future as plazas are under construction
The development needs, the new express way is still under the last stage of development.
- - Lots of heavy construction vehicle and work going on in various segments. Not all work is demarcated with markers and signage.
- - No public convenience – Rest rooms, Gas Station, Food Courts, Medical Centre seen. But are under construction.
- - Road has lots of curve and bends, but visible curvatures angles not seen. Potential accident zones as vehicles were plying much above the prescribed speed limit.
- - Road could have been built with concrete instead of tar. Monsoons water logging could damage the topping.
- - Need visible signage along the pavement, direction, location, distance, route, social messages
- - Need Grow Green saplings in the road dividers and sides.
- - Some jaywalkers were seen crossing the road. They probably jump boundary fence in absence of over bridge walk ways or a subway connecting settlement on both side of the highway.
- - Many cars, bike, autorikshaws and mini-truck were seen speeding in the opposite direction
- - Multiple carcass of dogs, cattle and jackal was seen. Animal intrusion need be checked.
Signing off from the Gomti river front at Lucknow.