ARA, July 13 -- National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited bids for a major four-lane road and bridge project that will directly connect Ara in Bihar's Bhojpur district to Bairia in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district, officials said on Sunday. The 27-kilometre-long stretch is to be built under the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model at an estimated cost of around Rs.1,564 crore. As per the plan, the project should be up and running within four years. Officials said the project is expected to create a reliable, all-weather link between National Highway (NH-31) and NH-922, bridging an infrastructure gap along the Bihar-UP border where crossing the Ganga is challenging. During the monsoon, a temporary pontoon bridge provides relief for about six months. The rest of the year, people are left either to rely on boats or take a long detour through Buxar, a journey that becomes difficult during the floods. The proposed route, expected to cut travel time between Ara and Bairia to roughly one hour, will cut through Mahuli and Khawaspur in Bihar, and Lakshman Chapra and Karan Chapra in Ballia before joining NH-31 near Jin Baba. Local leaders and residents are calling it a game-changer for the region's economy and daily life. Farmers who long struggled to get their produce across the river to bigger markets will now finally have faster, dependable access. Trade, small industries and even tourism stand to benefit from the project. Construction itself should create jobs for local youth, with more opportunities expected to follow once the road opens, according to NHAI officials. "For decades, we pressed for a lasting solution, only for our demands to go unheeded until now. People living across the Ganga will no longer have to depend on boats or alternative routes during floods," a resident said. The Ara-Bairia project speaks to deeper challenges in eastern India. Both states have suffered from patchy all-weather connectivity, which held back industrial growth and left rural communities cut from development. A sturdy, high-capacity bridge over the Ganga in this stretch won't just make travel easier - it should strengthen supply chains, improve access to markets and bolster emergency response when disasters strike. Senior NHAI officials said the road, once completed, is expected to bring down logistical costs and push inter-state commerce, fitting into the larger goal of knitting India's densely populated heartland together seamlessly. Residents see the project pulling this border region into the mainstream development. The announcement builds on earlier signals from former MP Virendra Singh Mast who highlighted the proposed corridor in January....