Weak soil, trapped water caused Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway failures: IIT Kharagpur

An expert assessment by an IIT Kharagpur professor has found that weak, highly plastic soil and trapped water are the primary causes of premature failures on the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said the highway's layers themselves showed no major deficiency in thickness. The report also pointed to drainage problems, with water getting trapped in depressed sections partly because unpaved shoulders restricted flow.

The assessment recommended rebuilding affected stretches from bottom up where soil strength is below design assumptions. It also stressed the need for a detailed survey to identify weak soil at the earliest. NHAI has said it aims to complete repairs by end of September. Toll collection on the entire expressway remains suspended.

Separately, a 10-metre-deep crater has opened on Uttar Pradesh's Ganga Expressway near kilometre 421 after heavy rain, as India Today reported. The damage on the Rs 36,000-crore corridor, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April, has renewed scrutiny of construction quality. The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has sent a team for repairs.