Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway slippages point to design issue, affected stretches need rebuilding: Official

Slippages reported on sections of the Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway within days of its inauguration indicate a design issue rather than a construction defect, according to a top government official. The official said patchwork repairs would not be sufficient and the affected stretches would need to be rebuilt from the bottom up, according to Dipak K Dash's Times of India report.

"The affected stretches will have to be rebuilt bottom up. We need to ensure there is no laxity at the designing stage of projects. This is a major concern for us, especially since the expressway has been executed under Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM)," the official said.

The Centre is awaiting the final report of an expert who carried out a detailed investigation into the slippages. "There was no deficiency in the thickness of the road or in the pavement layers beneath it," the official added.


Under the Hybrid Annuity Model, the private developer is responsible for operating and maintaining the project throughout the concession period, which typically lasts 15 years.

A preliminary investigation by a professor from IIT Kharagpur had identified weak, highly plastic soil beneath parts of the expressway as one of the main reasons for the slippages. Such soil loses strength when wet and can deform under load.

The preliminary report also identified poor drainage as a contributing factor.

(With TOI inputs)