The government has put the development of the 68 km greenfield Ayodhya bypass project on the fast track to decongest the holy city and facilitate economic, social and logistics connectivity across multiple districts in the region.

The project has been discussed under the PM GatiShakti initiative to “spur implementation and planning,” according to a statement issued by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Friday.

The Ayodhya Bypass Project has been evaluated as a critical infrastructure project by the National Planning Group meeting held under PM GatiShakti, the statement said.

The 67.57 kms project comprises construction of 4/6 Lane Northern Ayodhya Bypass of a total length of 35.40 kms and construction of 4/6 Lane Southern Ayodhya Bypass which has total length of 32.172 kms. The project will cover key districts such as Lucknow, Basti, and Gonda.

This project will facilitate improvement in connectivity to economic, social and logistics nodes, including tourist and pilgrim sites, across these three districts.

Ayodhya is situated between the two economic hubs of Lucknow and Gorakhpur and major commodities such as leather, engineering goods, building materials, iron and steel, etc. pass through the city. Therefore, the construction of this bypass route will facilitate uninterrupted freight flows and decongest the city, the statement said.

This bypass which is expected to cater to multiple forecasted increase in passenger and freight vehicle movement (from 89,023 in 2023 and 216,928 in 2033) around eight influence areas around Ayodhya, will also enable seamless movement of people and goods, and reduced travel time to critical national highways (such as NH-27: Lucknow– Ayodhya -Gorakhpur; NH-330A: Raebareli -Ayodhya; NH-330: Sultanpur-Ayodhya-Gonda and NH-135A: Akbarpur -Ayodhya).

The project will enhance multi-modality with integrated infrastructure such as Railway Stations (at Ayodhya Railway Station, Sohwal Railway Station, A N Dev Nagar Railway Station and Ayodhya Cantt Railway Station) and Airport (at Ayodhya Airport).

The project is also envisaged to complement and bring synergies along with other proposed projects evaluated in NPG meetings including (i) Prayagraj – Raibareili Project (Construction of Prayagraj City bypass (Total Length- 64.763 km) in the state of Uttar Pradesh; (ii) Gorakhpur-Siliguri Corridor- Development of project stretch from Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) to Siliguri (West Bengal); (iii) Gorakhpur-Bareilly Corridor- Development of project stretch from Gorakhpur to Rampur.

The Railway Station in Ayodhya has been redeveloped to meet modern standards, ensuring seamless connectivity with major cities across the country. The revamped station will facilitate movement of 60 thousand commuters compared to the current capacity of 10 thousand. Improved rail infrastructure not only facilitates the movement of people but also supports the efficient transportation of goods, contributing to regional economic development.