Kona Expressway likely to get 6-lane elevated corridor by 2026

The four-lane Kona Expressway (NH117) will be constructed as a 7.2-km six-lane superhighway and the two-and-a-half-year-long work is likely to be completed by early 2026.

The new section will end the eternal traffic snarl on the expressway. In addition, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will also convert a four-lane surfaced road to a 10-lane high-speed corridor for smooth movement of vehicles to and from Kolkata.

NHAI has pegged the cost of the project at Rs 839.4 crore. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) has bagged the contract to build the six-lane superhighway and will complete the Rs 720.6 crore project in 910 days.

The superhighway connects Vidyasagar Setu (Second Hooghly Bridge) in the east with NH16 (earlier NH6) at Nibra in the west. Vehicles entering and exiting the city will now save significant time by bypassing local traffic on the surface road below, an NHAI official said. More than 1,00,000 vehicles use the Kona Expressway daily, said a PWD-NHAI wing officer.

The six-lane elevated viaduct will be built on a single row of piers located above major congestion points such as Santragachhi Bus Stand, Santragachhi Railway Station, Shibpur, Canal Side Road, Carrie Road Junction, according to a detailed project report (DPR) prepared by RITES in 2018.

The four-lane Kona Expressway and the narrower road bridge on the railroad tracks leave many commuters stranded due to traffic restrictions. Apart from the numerous traffic junctions, it often shuts down both the traffic on the NH from Kolkata and that from the opposite direction. Moreover, Santragachhi, which is becoming the largest terminal for the South Eastern Railway, is also a major congestion point, said an NHAI official.