• The Varanasi Ring Road is close to 60 km long. Phase 1, a 16.55 km stretch from Harhua to Shivpur, was inaugurated in November 2018. Phase 2 is divided into packages; its Sandaha-Rewasa stretch includes a six-lane Ganga Bridge. One side of the bridge opened in mid-2025, and the second is expected to open fully by the end of 2026.
• As of July 2026, the Union Cabinet had approved two projects worth ₹25,500 crore:
• The 43.21 km Varuna Elevated Corridor will connect NH-31 with the Ring Road along the Varuna river, passing through 41 villages in Sadar and Pindra tehsils.
• The 46.03 km, six-lane Ganga Elevated Road, or Ganga Bank Corridor, will run from Vishwa Sundari Bridge to Samne Ghat Bridge, extend to Ramnagar and Namo Ghat, and connect to the Ring Road’s Ganga Bridge.
• Harhua-Sarnath plots are quoted at ₹3,500-5,000 per sq ft. Sandaha is described as comparatively affordable; Mohansarai-Barhuli is where the Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway starts.

The 46-km Ganga Elevated Corridor will connect NH-19 with Varanasi Ring Road (NH-135B), with construction expected to take about five years from its start. Planned by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, it will be developed under the Hybrid Annuity Model. The overview lists civil costs of ₹6,037.85 crore and land costs of ₹541.11 crore; it also cites a ₹10,998.32 crore, 43.218-km Varuna River Elevated Corridor and a dedicated elevated spur between BHU/Lanka and Samne Ghat.

Travel from NH-19 to the Ring Road is expected to fall from 60 to 20 minutes, and travel to Kashi Railway Station from about 50 to 25 minutes. Together with the Varuna corridor, it is estimated to cut congestion on Varanasi’s existing roads by up to 40%.

Structures include a 910-metre cable-stayed bridge over the Ganga, a 1.32-km extradosed foot-over-bridge-cum-major bridge with travelators towards Kashi Vishwanath Temple, and a rail overbridge crossing the existing and proposed Malviya Bridge. The project also includes loops, ramps, service roads, emergency parking bays, noise barriers and architectural lighting, and is planned under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.

It will improve access to Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, railway stations, Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, the Ramnagar IWAI Port, tourist destinations and religious sites. Stronger property demand and investor interest are anticipated around NH-19, the Ring Road, Ramnagar, Samne Ghat, Lanka and peripheral areas.

The Varanasi district administration fast-tracked the Varuna Elevated Corridor and Ganga Elevated Corridor and immediately banned land registrations in 53 identified villages and parcels within the proposed alignments.

The four-lane Varuna Link Elevated Connector Corridor, to be built by the National Highways Authority of India, will run 21.153 km alongside the Varuna River, linking National Highway-31 to the Varanasi Ring Road through 41 villages in Sadar and Pindra tehsils.

The six-lane Ganga Elevated Road will run 2.5 km from the left end of Vishwa Sundari Bridge to Samne Ghat Bridge, then about 6 km towards Ramnagar to Namo Ghat, and connect to the Ring Road’s Ganga Bridge. It will bypass central Varanasi for traffic from Chandauli, Mirzapur, Ghazipur and Bihar, and include three pedestrian suspension bridges.

The ban also covers land sales and purchases, speculative agreements, gift deeds, land-use changes and allocation of government land.