Srinagar: India’s longest road tunnel, which is built on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway nearly 170 km from Srinagar, will be opened for general traffic in July.
The tunnel connects Chenani in Udhampur with Nashri in Ramban district, is being built at a cost of over Rs 2,500 crore. It will also reduce the existing road distance between two points on the highway from 30 kms.
Every one in Kashmir is eagerly looking forward to the completion of the project. It helps to travel to Srinagar by road even during harsh winter or at the height of monsoon, with a high speed.
The tunnel which is across a highly seismic zone, is dubbed an engineering marvel. There is a parallel escape tunnel along with the main tunnel for evacuation of commuters in case of an eventuality.
Atul Sharma, Environment, Health and Safety Engineer said. “There will be a crane on standby to toe away vehicles which break down. There are special compartments inside the tunnel which can be used by people in medical emergencies to alert the teams to reach the spot instantly.”
Rangrez Singh, Additional DC of Udhampur said. “After the completion of the tunnel, Patnitop resort on the highway will emerge as a major tourist attraction, there won’t be traffic jams and tourists can reach there without any inconvenience.”