MARVEL EXPRESSWAY

Afcons-constructed Agra Lucknow Expressway, India’s longest access-controlled expressway, ushers in a new era for the whole of Northern India.

Afcons Infrastructure Ltd (Afcons) has executed several technically-challenging projects that are regarded as engineering marvels. In its journey from 1959, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group company has consistently executed complex projects in areas of Marine, Highways, Bridges, Metro, Tunnels, and Onshore & Offshore Oil & Gas platforms.

A leading player in the area of Surface Transport, Afcons has constructed 4,500 lane kms of road and counting, across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The company has executed the fastest hill-road project in National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) history in Jammu & Kashmir – Jammu Udhampur Highway; World’s longest motorable road tunnel above 13,000ft in Rohtang (JV with Strabag) – Rohtang Tunnel Project and one of Zambia’s most state-of-the-art road networks – Lusaka City Roads Decongestion Project.

Agra Lucknow Expressway Project (ALEP), executed for Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Upeida), is among Afcons’ landmark road projects. The Expressway was conceptualised with the hope to transform the lives of the people in the hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh by connecting them to the state as well as the national capitals. The company executed 126 kms of the 302-km expressway, which is India’s longest access-controlled expressway.

Afcons worked in EPC capacity on two packages – Firozabad to Etawah and Kannauj to Unnao – that comprise almost 42 per cent of the total length of this green field project.The six-lane Expressway, which is expandable to eight lanes, was supposed to be a 36-month project. Afcons completed the two packages in less than 24 months.

PROJECT SUMMARY

The project’s scheduled completion period as per the contract was three years. However, keeping in view the aspirations of client, project was ready more than a year before time, maintaining its impeccable track record of completing projects ahead of schedule. The biggest challenges while executing the project were large-scale mobilisation of resources and their effective management.

One of the biggest challenges was completing a major bridge across the River Ganga in a span of 18 months, including two monsoon cycles. Reduction in scheduled completion date of the project meant the project activities were left with little, or sometimes no, float time at all. Therefore, the construction of the bridge continued even as heavy rains lashed the area and the river got flooded. The highly-motivated team worked night and day to achieve the advanced completion of the project.

Also, after the work began, there was a considerable change in plans. The structures were originally planned for six lanes, but the configuration of structures was changed to eight lanes. Despite the changes being implemented, hardly any time was lost. The main carriageway along the entire contracted length was ready in record time, and so was the structural work at all the major and minor bridges.

ONE PROJECT, MANY STRUCTURES

The varied structures that comprise this road project made it particularly challenging. Afcons built four road over bridges, eight flyovers, 23 vehicular underpasses, 58 pedestrian underpasses, six major bridges, and 29 minor bridges along stretches of virgin land as part of the Expressway.

GANGA BRIDGE – PROJECT WITHIN A PROJECT

The 750m-long, eight-lane bridge on the mighty River Ganga involved construction of 32 of well foundations, equal number of substructure in form of pier / abutment and superstructure in precast box segments. Four hundred and fifty precast box segments, each weighing about 70-90MT, were cast in a fully automated precast yard setup along the project alignment.

In order to compress completion schedule of this major bridge to 18 months, Afcons used two different types of superstructure and three different methods of superstructure erection on the same bridge. Out of 30 spans, 25 spans were constructed with precast concrete box segments and five spans in structural steel with composite deck slabs.

A 2400MT capacity Launching Girder was indigenously designed to handle 1450MT weight of precast box segments of each span of 50m. Fifteen spans were launched with Launching Girder, 10 spans with ground support system and five spans of structural steel with high-capacity cranes. This is the case of high-level technical improvisations to achieve extremely compressed target of 18 months for completing such a large bridge on the Ganges – perhaps a first of its kind. The team achieved the cycle time of just 3.1 days for launching a span of 50m on this bridge.

EXTREME ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION

Some of the rail over bridges (ROBs) in the Firozabad-Etawah sector were extremely challenging. ROB 67, which had to be constructed over the busy Delhi-Howrah rail route, had more than 600 trains running every day under it. The ROB had an abnormal skew of 46 degrees, the first of its kind, and upon completion, it became the longest steel truss bridge of the country.

Afcons resorted to push-launching methodology by erecting the total structural steel on an adjacent span and push-launched it over the railway span using temporary support. ROB 88 was another unique structure with a skew angle of 61 degrees. Having nine spans with total length of the ROB being 311meters, the total steel structure erection was about 4500 MT.

MAN AND MACHINE

Agra Lucknow Expressway is a glowing example of the use of cutting-edge technology. The project saw several innovations in terms of technology and planning on its road to completion, which was done by the company in-house. Remarkable progress was also the result of proactive approach, with quick turnaround time for design approvals, and highly-effective supply chain management.

KEY INNOVATIONS

The project saw several innovations in terms of technology and planning on its road to completion. PERI formwork, tailor-made to suit the requirements of typical structures, was implemented in this project, which helped expedite the work.

In order to expedite construction of box structures, box culverts were constructed using precast technology. In addition, slabs of all large box structures up to 12m span were executed using precast panels. Remarkable progress was also the result of proactive approach, with quick turnaround time for design approvals, etc. and highly-effective supply chain management.

SAFETY AND GREEN INITIATIVES

Tapping the sun’s energy has always had great potential but large-scale utilisation has faced many setbacks. These include cost of technology, energy storage, distribution of solar power and daily/seasonal variability of solar resource. In this project, Afcons addressed these challenges under three broad research themes of solar energy capture, distribution and storage and a solar energy research enclave was established at the project site.

The Agra Lucknow Expressway project has received several awards for following impeccable standards of safety in its process of its culmination. The project has been awarded the Golden Peacock Occupational Health & Safety Award for 2017. It was handpicked as the winner by the awards jury under the chairmanship of Justice Dr Arijit Pasayat, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.

The Expressway project received the Gold Award in Construction Sector for outstanding achievement in Environment Management at the 17th Annual Greentech Environment Award 2017.

Apart from receiving appreciation letters from the client, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (Upeida), the ALEP team has been lauded by the local police and village authorities for the efforts they extended to local communities.

Afcons was recognised as one of India’s Leading Infrastructure Companies at Dun & Bradstreet Awards in 2017. The company has been named the Best Construction Company in Roads and Bridges at the Construction Week Award. Construction Times awarded Afcons the Best Executed Road Project of the Year Award for its Agra Lucknow Expressway Project.

BLENDING IN

During the course of the project, Afcons has engaged itself with local communities to undertake several initiatives to ensure their betterment.As the project progressed, Afconians at the sites became an intrinsic part of the fabric of the areas. They became an integral part of the lives of the villagers and also their friend in need. The company, along with local bodies, organised food donation drives for the relief of local villages.

Afcons organised traffic safety awareness programmes regularly. These initiatives are undertaken after it was found that people from nearby villages were frequenting the main carriageway for walks and to take photographs. These programmes made them aware of the perils of walking along the stretch because vehicles run at very high speeds. The villagers of all age groups were also informed about the importance of using underpasses and service roads to prevent accidents. These initiatives received an overwhelming response from the locals, and Afcons’ efforts were highlighted by the local media and were highly appreciated.

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

Besides strengthening connectively of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, with the National Capital, another tangible benefit of Expressway will be the transformation of regionally important cities such as Mainpuri, Etawah and Unnao among many others into robust industrial centres to bolster economic growth in the state. It has reduced travel time between Agra and Lucknow from six hours to three-and-a-half hours.

The Expressway will also help decongest some of the important National Highways such as NH-2, NH-91 and decrease commute time between several cities in the region. With the development of vishishth mandi sthal (specialised market places) and other agro-processing centres in the vicinity of the Expressway, agriculture, horticulture and dairy industries will also receive a boost.

On the national scale, the Expressway will also help attract investments into the region by assuring unhindered transport of business goods. By reducing the travel time between cities, the expressway also contributes to reduction of carbon footprint and pollution. A project of this magnitude changes the face of areas surrounding it in more ways than one. Apart from changing the landscape, it also opens up several avenues for development and progress.

Afcons has made maximum utilisation of local labour to stimulate economic growth around the expressway by providing gainful employment to locals. The company’s development efforts have been praised by the local population and the response in terms of co-operation with the highway execution team has been positive.

Agra-Lucknow Expressway ushers in a new era not just for the region, but for the country. The success of a project of this magnitude gives the confidence and hope to the infrastructure sector, as a whole to take a step beyond the obvious and make a mark in the progress of the country.

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