LUCKNOW: Come January 15, get ready to shell out Rs 500 for a Lucknow-Agra Expressway drive. The 302-km expressway, the longest in the country, will have two toll plazas — one each at Lucknow and Agra side. They will be operated by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority. The total toll for a travel from Lucknow to Delhi will be Rs 915, since a drive between Agra and Greater Noida now costs Rs 415.

The exact amount, however, will be finalised soon for a drive between Lucknow and Agra, an official said on Wednesday. “We are in the process of finalising the amount that will be charged up to each exit point on the stretch. For instance, if one is going from Lucknow and exiting the expressway at Kannauj , he or she will inform the toll plaza at Lucknow and pay a reduced amount,” said the official.

Although the work in the expressway is yet to be completed, another official said, “Facilities along the expressway are yet to be finished. There are toilets along the stretch, but restaurants and hotels will be built by April and petrol pumps by March.”

Uttar Pradesh industries minister Satish Mahana said the state government would collect the toll for the first two months. “We will assess how things work for the first two months. Later, we will come out with a tender for toll collection,” he said.

The flagship project of former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was inaugurated on November 21, 2016 and brought down travel time between Lucknow and Agra to four hours and between Lucknow and Delhi to six hours. Around 11,500 vehicles, excluding the heavy ones, are now using the expressway to and from Agra daily. The stretch has also used as an airstrip twice when the Indian Air Force landed fighter.

