In all, an allocation of Rs 34,468 crore has been made for strengthening and renovating roads and flyovers in the state. In fact, flyovers and bridges were allocated a corpus of Rs 4,808 crore, which could help in checking chronic bottlenecks in high-growth cities. Railway Over Bridges (RoBs) have been allocated Rs 1,700 crore. This complements the Union Budget’s massive Rs 20,000 crore investment in UP’s rail infrastructure, facilitating faster movement in high-speed rail corridors. Separately, an allocation of Rs 3,700 crore was made for maintenance of state highways, major roads and district roads—a measure that is seen as representing the govt’s aim to preserve existing road network assets. Another Rs 1,500 crore was wheeled in for construction of bypasses, ring roads and flyovers across road crossings. The move is seen as designed to bridge the “efficiency gap” between high-speed expressways and urban and industrial endpoints. This is apart from the Rs 1,000 crore earmarked for widening and strengthening roads dedicated to industrial and logistics parks. The corpus for industrial and logistics parks attains significance against the backdrop of the state govt’s projected aim of making UP a USD 1 trillion economy. Experts said that industrial roads require higher load-bearing capacities than standard district roads. The development underscores the transition from general connectivity to specialised engineering, essential for Uttar Pradesh’s transition into a manufacturing powerhouse.
