Amaravati–Anantapur Expressway
# Amaravati–Anantapur Expressway

Amaravati – Anantapur Expressway is a proposed greenfield expressway of length 598.78 km in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was mainly proposed to connect the cities of Rayalaseema to the other part of the state with an expressway. This proposed expressway serves as a major expressway along with National Highway 16. It also has two feeder expressways connected to Kurnool and Kadapa with a length of 123.7 km and 104.05 km. It was primarily planned to go through the capital of the state, Amaravati but is now changed to connect at the junction of National Highway 16 at Chilakaluripet. It is being built by the National Highways Authority of India under Phase–VII of the National Highways Development Project. This expressway is expected to be built by December 2023. In view of the huge cost for land acquisition, the state government proposal to upgrade existing state highway between Anantapur and Tadipatri and extending it to Giddaluru and upgrading the state highway Giddaluru-Vinukonda- Guntur as an alternative. The proposal is accepted by the national government and is named as Anantapur-Guntur National highway 544D.

## The project

The cost of the project is expected to be ₹27,635 crore (equivalent to ₹400 billion or US$5.0 billion in 2023). It would cut travel time between Amaravathi and Anantapur by 120 minutes. The expressway will be six lanes wide with service roads. It was proposed that this road will be designed for a speed of 120 mph with straight alignments, avoiding habitations and locations of archaeological and religious importance. Tunnels and viaducts are proposed to be constructed to avoid hilly terrains and valley sections. The expressway will carry all public amenities viz. underpasses, service roads, provision for the green belt, rest houses, petrol pumps, service centres, restaurants and four agricultural mandis for milk, potatoes, grains, and fruits.

## Project stretch

The proposed expressway connects the Guntur with Ananthapur. The spinal corridor takes off from NH-44 near Maruru in Ananthapuramu District and ends at Pedaparimi near Sakhamuru, thereby crossing the Vijayawada IRR near Tadikonda and ORR near Velavarthipadu. Few fragments of the proposed expressway pass through Nallamala Forest area. The expressway traverses across the districts of Ananthapuram, Kurnool, Kadapa, Prakasam and Guntur. 6-lane road starts from Yadavalli which forms a single straight stretch to the state capital. The expressway is proposed to be designed as a high-speed corridor by making it completely access-controlled.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh has proposed to withdraw the previous plan and connect this expressway at the Chilakaluripet junction of National Highway 16 to which the Central government agreed thereby saving Rs 3,500 crore and also 741 hectares of land from acquiring. This also reduces the distance of about 47 km of road length.

The expressway is divided into 18 legs. But after changing its north end to Chilakaluripeta, the project has remained with 14 legs.

Main Line of the expressway

* Leg 01: Stretch from Maruru to Kandakur (Anantapur Dist.)
* Leg 02: Stretch from Kandakur to Chamaluru (Anantapur Dist.)
* Leg 03: Stretch from Chamaluru to Hussainpuram (Anantapur Dist.)
* Leg 04: Stretch from Hussainpuram to Boyala Tadipatri (Anantapur & Kurnool Dist.)
* Leg 05: Stretch from Boyala Tadipatri to Allur (Kurnool Dist.)
* Leg 06: Stretch from Allur to Nallagatla (Kurnool Dist.)
* Leg 07: Stretch from Nallagatla to Chinna Kambaloor (Kurnool & Prakasam Dist.)
* Leg 08: Stretch from Chinna Kambaloor to Yadavalli (Prakasam Dist.)
* Leg 09: Stretch from Yadavalli to Nekunambadu (Prakasam Dist.)
* Leg 10: Stretch from Nekunambadu to Kethagudipi (Prakasam Dist.)
* Leg 11: Stretch from Kethagudipi to Gudipadu (Prakasam Dist.)
* Leg 12: Stretch from Gudipadu to Kunduru (West) (Prakasam Dist.)
* Leg 13: Stretch from Kunduru (West) to Komalapadu (Prakasam Dist.)
* Leg 14: Stretch from Komalapadu to Chilakaluripeta (Prakasam & Guntur Dist.)

The Feeder Road of Kadapa

* Leg 19: Stretch from Bhoomayapalli to Kalasapadu (YSR Dist.)
* Leg 20: Stretch from Kalasapadu to Yadavalli (Prakasam & Guntur Dist.)

The Feeder Road of Kurnool

* Leg 21: Stretch from Pedda Kambalur to Ayalurmitta (Kurnool Dist.)

Note

Leg 15, 16, 17, 18 were cancelled and the north end was restricted to NH-16 near Chilakaluripet.

## Route

The expressway would stretch for a length of 598.78 km (372.06 mi) and include 368.50 km (228.98 mi) of the service road. It will connect to Chilakaluripet from Anantapur with two feeder expressways Kurnool Feeder and Kadapa Feeder intersecting with it. It will have a total length of 368.50 km of the Service Road. It will have 33 major bridges, four railway over bridges, 14 interchanges, and a 10 km length of the tunnel.

