On 16 November 2021, the Prime Minister inaugurated another UPEIDA Project, the Purvanchal Expressway.

This expressway connects the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh to Lucknow. The Agra – Lucknow Expressway connects Lucknow to the western part of the state. Together these two expressways allows one to traverse the width of the state on a high speed corridor. The completion of this expressway also enables development in the remote parts of East Uttar Pradesh. The socio-economic development along this project will be driven through agriculture, tourism, commerce and industrial development. Education would get a boost through construction of various educational institutes and centres along the expressway. Nine districts stand to gain through this socio-economic development and increase employment opportunities. These are Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Ghazipur.

The starting point is Village Chand Sarai, located at Lucknow-Sultanpur Road (NH-731), district Lucknow. The expressway ends after 340.824 km near village Haidaria on National Highway No.-19, which is 18 KM before the UP-Bihar border, in district Ghazipurm, making it one of the longest expressways in the country. The 6 lane Expressway (expandable to 8 lanes) was completed with a project cost (including land) of Rs. 22,494.66 crore within the expected time line for the project. This is an achievement in itself since there were delays and setbacks on account of the Lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

UPEIDA divided the construction work into 8 packages, which were awarded to five different contractors on the EPC model. The expressway includes 22 Flyovers, 7 Railway-over-bridges (ROB), 7 major bridges, 114 minor bridges, 6 Toll Plazas, 45 vehicular-underpasses (VUP), 139 Light VUP, 87 pedestrian underpass and 525 Box culverts.