UP’s longest expressway is ready. Can it bridge the state’s east-west divide?

Uttar Pradesh has long carried the reputation of India’s “problem state” — marked by weak law and order, poor human development indicators, patchy governance and entrenched corruption.
Over the past decade, however, the state has sought to recast that image. At the centre of this shift is a sustained push to position UP as an infrastructure-led economy – even branding itself the country’s “expressway capital”.