New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANS): Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday inaugurated two National Highway projects worth Rs 3,390 crore in Bihar's Buxar in the presence of Union Minister of State Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal and other officials.

Gadkari said with the 44 km 4-lane Koilwar to Bhojpur section on NH-922 constructed at a cost of Rs 1,662 crore and 48 km 4-lane Bhojpur to Buxar section on NH-922 constructed at a cost of Rs 1,728 crore connectivity with Purvanchal Expressway will be easy.

This will make it easy to reach Delhi from Bihar via Lucknow. The time taken to reach Delhi will be reduced from 15 hours to 10 hours, he added.

The Minister said this road will relieve the residents of the traffic jam in Ara. Agricultural produce will have easy access to the new market. He said with the construction of Ganga bridge, the traffic between north and south Bihar will be convenient.

Gadkari also inaugurated a 1.5 km long 2-lane elevated RCC bridge near Panduka on Son river in Rohtas, Bihar at a cost of Rs 210 crore.

Gadkari said with the construction of this bridge, NH-19 and NH-39 will be directly connected, which will facilitate traffic between Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

He said at present, a distance of 150 km has to be covered to reach Srinagar from Panduka in Rohtas district and Garhwa district of Jharkhand, with the construction of this bridge, four hours will be saved in this journey.

The traffic pressure on Dehri bridge will also reduce and Aurangabad, Sasaram cities will be able to get rid of the problem of jam, he added.