VARANASI: The Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) International Airport in Babatpur — about 26km from Varanasi — will soon become the first airport in the country to have a national highway running under its runway. The construction of an underpass will ensure the expansion of the airport’s runway for the landing of big planes, as well as convert the highway into a four-lane road.The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has given its nod to the airport’s runway expansion by building the underpass, which will keep the alignment of the Varanasi-Lucknow highway (NH-56) intact. The existing runway is 2,750m and is proposed to be extended up to 4,075m to ensure landing of big cargo and Boeing planes at the airport. The runway expansion and underpass construction will commence simultaneously, said officials.“It will be India’s first highway to pass under the runway of an airport. The proposed underpass will also solve the long-pending issue of deciding the alignment of NH-56, which is being converted into a four-lane road. As AAI’s project of runway expansion is yet to begin, the NHAI is repairing the existing highway patch for smooth vehicular movement,” NHAI project director (Varanasi) S B Singh told TOI.The proposal to convert the NH-56 into a four-lane has been in the pipeline for over a decade and was approved by the UPA government in 2013. The NHAI started basic work on the Varanasi-Sultanpur stretch but not much headway could be made. With the change of guard at the Centre in 2014, the process of land acquisition and other work on the stretch sped up. However, the alignment issue remained unresolved.AAI, in its Masterplan-2004, proposed the runway extension. However, as a railway track runs on the eastern side of the runway, the expansion could only take place on the west where the NH-56 exists. For the project, AAI sought 593.77 acres of land in Mangari, Bikunthpur, Karmi, Ghamhapur Karmi, Sagunaha and Pura Raghunathpur villages.The proposal was neglected for over a decade until AAI sent a letter to the Uttar Pradesh government on March 27, 2015, through the director of civil aviation (UP), seeking the required land. The scheme gained momentum in 2017 when AAI restarted identification of land for expansion.

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