Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 15 National Highway projects in Patna and Hajipur in Bihar with a total cost of Rs.13,585 crore.
Speaking on the occasion shri Gadkari said Mahatma Gandhi Setu is the lifeline of Bihar, which connects North Bihar with South Bihar. With this super structure replacement project, the time taken to cross Mahatma Gandhi Setu has been reduced from 2 to 3 hours to 5 to 10 minutes.
He said Chhapra-Gopalganj section being 2-lane with 4 bypasses will allow the traffic of the highway to pass through the bypass and the city will get rid of traffic jams.The Minister said the route from Umagaon will directly connect the religious places of Uchhaith Bhagbati and Mahishi Tarapith.
Aurangabad – Chordaha section 6-lane road will improve connectivity of Bihar with Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Shri Gadkari said Munger - Bhagalpur - Mirzachowki section 4-lane greenfield road will facilitate the farmers of this region to deliver their crop across the country, which will increase the income of the farmers.
He said the 2-lane road being built on NH-80 will facilitate connectivity between Bihar, Sahibganj and Assam connecting with the Inland Waterways Terminal reducing the logistics cost. Shri Gadkari said apart from this, traffic will be facilitated from Begusarai elevated flyover, Jayanagar bypass ROB and long jams of level crossings will be avoided. With the construction of Ara 4-lane road from Kayamnagar, the traffic for Ara will be smooth, he added.