The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved two major elevated corridor projects for Varanasi on 15 July 2026, with a combined investment of over ₹25,446 crore. The projects, implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), will build nearly 89 km of elevated roads along the Varuna and Ganga rivers to ease chronic traffic congestion in the ancient city. Together, they form a central pillar of the Varanasi Decongestion Plan and are aligned with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.
The Traffic Challenge in Varanasi
Varanasi, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities and a major pilgrimage destination, receives more than 15 crore tourists and pilgrims every year. The city’s narrow inner-city roads, originally built for a much smaller population, have struggled to handle the explosion in vehicular traffic. National Highway-19 (connecting Prayagraj to Varanasi), National Highway-31, and National Highway-35 (Varanasi to Mirzapur) all channel heavy intercity traffic through dense urban areas, creating chronic bottlenecks.
The Varanasi Ring Road, a 60-km project under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, was conceived to divert through traffic away from the city core. Phase-I (16 km) was inaugurated in November 2018, and Phase-II has been progressively opened. However, the existing ring road alone has proven insufficient. The new elevated corridors will serve as direct high-speed links connecting the ring road to the two major national highways, effectively creating a bypass system that keeps long-distance and intercity traffic out of the congested city centre.
The Varuna River Elevated Corridor
The first approved project is a 43.218-km link corridor connecting NH-31 to the Varanasi Ring Road along the banks of the Varuna River, at a total capital cost of ₹10,998.32 crore. The corridor will be a predominantly elevated carriageway with six lanes in certain stretches and four lanes in others, along with flyovers, loops, ramps, and service roads.
Designed for an operating speed of 80-100 kmph, the Varuna corridor is expected to halve the travel time between NH-31 and Kashi Railway Station from about 40 minutes to 20 minutes. It will provide seamless access to the Varanasi Ring Road, Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi Junction, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction, Ramnagar Port, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, the city’s ghats, and the adjoining Chandauli region.
The government has described this corridor as the Varuna Expressway. It will also improve access to key economic and logistics nodes in eastern Uttar Pradesh, strengthening regional freight movement and multimodal connectivity.
The Ganga River Elevated Corridor
The second project is a 46.039-km link corridor connecting NH-19 to the Varanasi Ring Road along the Ganga River, at a total capital cost of ₹14,447.64 crore. This will be a six-lane elevated main carriageway with several distinctive engineering features.
The corridor will include an iconic cable-stayed bridge measuring 910 metres across the Ganga, a 1.32-km extradosed foot-over bridge-cum-major bridge equipped with travelators that will provide pedestrian connectivity to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, a rail over bridge over the existing and proposed Malviya Bridge, loops, ramps, link roads, service roads, emergency parking bays, noise barriers, and facade lighting inspired by Varanasi’s cultural heritage.
The Ganga corridor is expected to reduce average travel time across the project area from about 60 minutes to 20 minutes, a reduction of nearly 67%. Travel time between NH-19 and Kashi Railway Station will drop from around 50 minutes to 25 minutes. The project will decongest the NH-19 (Prayagraj-Varanasi) stretch, the BHU-Ramnagar corridor, and NH-35 (Varanasi-Mirzapur) by diverting through traffic away from the city’s densely populated core.
How the Hybrid Annuity Model Works
Both projects will be executed under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), a public-private partnership framework introduced by NHAI in January 2016. HAM blends features of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model and the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) annuity model.
Under HAM, the government contributes 40% of the project cost during the construction phase through milestone-based payments. The private developer (concessionaire) finances the remaining 60% through a mix of equity and debt. Once the road is completed and operational, the government pays the developer back through semi-annual annuity payments over a fixed operations period of 15 years, along with interest linked to the bank rate plus 3%. The government retains the right to collect tolls, insulating the developer from traffic revenue risk.
This structure balances risk between the public and private sectors. The developer bears construction and maintenance risks, while the government assumes revenue risk. The model has been widely adopted for national highway projects and has helped revive private sector participation in road infrastructure after the stress faced by the earlier BOT-Toll model.
Significance of the Twin Corridors
The two corridors together address multiple challenges facing Varanasi. Beyond decongesting the city’s road network, they will strengthen connectivity to key multimodal transport hubs. The corridors improve access to Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, four major railway stations (Kashi, Banaras, Varanasi City, and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction), and the Ramnagar Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) Port, which links to the National Waterway-1 on the Ganga.
For religious tourism, the corridors will provide smoother access to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) , Namo Ghat, Ramnagar Fort, and the ghats of Varanasi. The Ganga corridor’s pedestrian bridge with travelators is specifically designed to improve pilgrim access to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple directly from the elevated road.
Economically, the projects will improve logistics efficiency, reduce vehicle operating costs, lower emissions, and support the growth of the Purvanchal region. The Varuna corridor will connect one Economic Node (Chandauli Social Economic Zone), one Social Node (Chandauli), and six major Logistics Nodes, strengthening multimodal integration under the PM Gati Shakti framework.
Alignment with PM Gati Shakti
The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, launched in October 2021, is a GIS-based digital platform that integrates infrastructure planning across 16 central ministries. It aims to break departmental silos and enable coordinated planning of road, rail, aviation, port, and pipeline projects. The Varanasi elevated corridors were planned within this framework, ensuring that road connectivity aligns with railway stations, airports, and the IWAI port in a holistic manner.
The projects also support the objective of reducing India’s logistics cost, which currently stands at about 13% of GDP, by creating seamless multimodal connectivity that reduces the time and expense of moving goods through eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Key Takeaways
- The CCEA approved two elevated corridors for Varanasi on 15 July 2026 at a total cost of over ₹25,446 crore.
- The Varuna River Elevated Corridor (₹10,998 crore) connects NH-31 to the Varanasi Ring Road over 43.218 km and will cut travel time from 40 to 20 minutes.
- The Ganga River Elevated Corridor (₹14,447 crore) connects NH-19 to the Varanasi Ring Road over 46.039 km and will reduce average travel time from 60 to 20 minutes.
- The Ganga corridor will feature a 910-metre cable-stayed bridge and a 1.32-km extradosed foot-over bridge with travelators for pedestrian access to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
- Both projects will be implemented by NHAI under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) , where the government pays 40% during construction and the remaining 60% through annuities over 15 years.
- The corridors are part of the Varanasi Decongestion Plan and aligned with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan to strengthen multimodal connectivity.
