After years of construction, the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, also called the Awadh Expressway, opened on 13 July 2026. It starts in south Lucknow near Shaheed Path, which puts it close to areas like Sushant Golf City, Vrindavan Yojana and Ashiyana. Here is what the road is, what went wrong after opening, and what it means for people living on this side of the city.
The road in numbers
- Length: about 63 km (62.76 km), six lanes, built so it can be widened to eight.
- Start and end: from a junction near Shaheed Path in south Lucknow to Azad Marg in Kanpur, where it meets Udyog Path.
- Elevated sections: two stretches between Amausi and Bani, about 3.4 km and 9.1 km long.
- Built by: PNC Infratech, under the government's hybrid annuity model, with NHAI responsible for the road. The 2018 project report put the cost at about ₹4,500 crore.
- Travel time: earlier projections spoke of 35 to 50 minutes between the two cities, against two to three hours on the old highway.
The toll, and the problems after opening
A toll of ₹275 one way and ₹415 for a round trip by car was announced in April 2026. Within three weeks of opening, parts of the road were damaged in the rain. According to public records of the project, an IIT Kharagpur investigation recommended rebuilding the affected stretches, toll collection was suspended along the whole road, and NHAI barred the contractor and its subsidiaries from bidding on NHAI projects for three years.
So the road is open, but repairs may affect some stretches for a while. Check the current status before you plan a daily commute around it.
What it means if you live in south Lucknow
For anyone who works in Kanpur, or travels there often, south Lucknow now makes much more sense as a base:
- Daily commuting becomes realistic. Once the repaired road is running normally, a Kanpur office is within reach of a home near Shaheed Path.
- Sushant Golf City, Vrindavan Yojana and Ashiyana gain the most, because they sit close to the Lucknow end of the expressway.
- The airport side also benefits, since the elevated stretch runs past Amausi.
Better roads usually lift demand for homes near them, but rents follow slowly and depend on much more than one road: water supply, safety, schools and the condition of the building matter more to most families. We would not expect a sudden jump.
Questions to ask before you rent near the expressway
- How far is the nearest entry point, and is that stretch fully repaired?
- Is there truck traffic or construction noise near the building?
- Is the society's water and power backup reliable? New corridors often grow faster than services.
- How long is the drive to your office at rush hour? Try it once before you sign.
If you are looking for a flat on this side of Lucknow, see the properties we have for rent below, or browse all our listings.
Facts as reported up to 19 October 2026. Repairs and toll status may have changed since.