Kona Expressway
Kona Expressway
11.5 km
Open
West Bengal
Expressway
Route
Kona Expressway runs 11.5 km from Watganj, West Bengal to Domjur, West Bengal.
Crosses West Bengal.
Through Watganj, Kolkata, Shibpur and Domjur.
Why it matters
Kolkata sits on the east bank of the Hooghly and almost all of its road freight leaves westward across it. This short expressway is the funnel that traffic passes through.
History
The Kona Expressway is a short, fast link across Howrah that connects the western end of the Vidyasagar Setu — the cable-stayed bridge into central Kolkata — with the national highway at Dhulagarh and Domjur. It was built so that traffic leaving Kolkata for the west would not have to crawl through Howrah's streets, and it is the road most long-distance buses and trucks use to leave the city.
Good to know
- Connects the Vidyasagar Setu approach to the national highway west of Howrah.
- Named after Kona, the Howrah locality it runs through.
- It is the standard route out of Kolkata towards Kharagpur, Odisha and Mumbai.
- Only a few kilometres long, but it saves a long crawl through central Howrah.
On the road
Short and usually quick, but the Vidyasagar Setu toll plaza at the Kolkata end is the pinch point at rush hour.