India's newest highway doubles up as runway for fighter jets to land
The Agra-Lucknow expressway, India's longest greenfield expressway, was inaugurated today by the Uttar Pradesh state government — and it did so in grand style.
Six fighters jets of the Indian Air Force performed simulated touch-down to celebrate the grand opening, with Chief Minister of the northern Indian state, Akhilesh Yadav along with thousands of other people in audience.
The Agra-Lucknow expressway is India’s longest expressway now, spanning across 188 miles long six-lane greenfield expressway. It was built in record time of 22 months according to officials, and the expressway could halve the time taken to travel between Lucknow and Agra to just 3.5 hours.
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The expressway comes with a 2-mile dedicated stretch that has been built for jets to land and take-off in the times of "war-like emergencies". The road runway segment of the expressway doesn't have any dividers, or flyover, or underpass to clear any hindrance for fighter planes to land or take off.
All facilities including safety services, Air Traffic Control and technical specifications of expressway's construction, were overseen by the Indian Air Force. This would allow the Indian Air Force to operate its fleet even if its air bases are crippled during war.
The project cost about Rs 132 billion ($1.9 billion), and the expressway will be functional starting next year. It is designed to handle speed of up to miles per hour, the default speed limit on India's expressways.
It’s rare for the Indian Air Force’s fighter jets — Sukhoi and Mirage 2000s — to make an appearance for such inaugurations. The first Sukhoi jet couldn’t land as planned after a stray dog came in its path.
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The timing of the inauguration comes months ahead of state election in Uttar Pradesh. Today is also the birthday of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Chief Minister's father and head of the ruling Samajwadi Party.
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