Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has begun setting up an integrated command and control centre at its headquarters in the PICUP building in Lucknow to strengthen emergency response and ensure faster assistance for motorists facing trouble on expressways.At present, distress calls are routed through a centralised helpline number, 14449, but incident response is handled by separate control rooms operating across the state’s five operational expressways—Lucknow-Agra, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Gorakhpur Link and Ganga.UPEIDA officials said the new facility is intended to evolve into a full-fledged monitoring and coordination hub as the expressway network expands, with nine more expressways already sanctioned.According to officials, the five operational corridors currently report an average of 75 to 80 crashes each month. Of these, around seven to eight incidents are described as extremely serious, frequently resulting in fatalities.The proposed integrated centre will consolidate surveillance and operational oversight by relaying live video feeds from the nearest cameras when an incident is reported. Senior officials stationed at headquarters will be able to monitor response protocols in real time, a step the authority believes will further reduce response time and improve coordination among on-ground teams and partner agencies.UPEIDA also plans to integrate advanced traffic management systems and toll management systems already installed across the five expressways into the central facility. A senior officer said this would allow headquarters staff to identify reasons for congestion at toll plazas and quickly engage senior executives of toll collection agencies to address delays.The move comes as UPEIDA’s patrol and emergency teams are tasked with covering a 1,624-km expressway network at present. With the nine sanctioned expressways expected to become operational in the future, the combined length of 14 expressways is projected to rise to 2,610 km, increasing the need for centralised monitoring and faster decision-making.Officials said the integrated centre will also enable daily access to consolidated insights and analytics from across corridors, replacing the current system of gathering data separately from multiple control rooms.
