PTI
Banihal, Jan 3: jin88bet.oneThe work on the Rs 2100-crore project started in June 2011 by Navyuga engineering company and on completion would reduce the road distance between Banihal in Jammuak168app.baby province and Qazigund in south Kashmir by 16 km from the present 35 km and will bypass Jawahar Tunnel and Shak168app.clubaitan Nalla, which is prone to heavy snowfall and slippery conditions during winters.
“The work withinks168app.site and outside is in the final stage and we are hopeful to throw it open for traffic in the last week of March,” Chief Manager, Navayuga Engineering Company, Muneeb Tak said here.
The existing road tunic88nel below the Banihal pass (Jawahar tunnel — the gateway to Kashmir) has been a bottleneck on the nearly 2ic8865-km highway, the only all weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, due to its elevation of 2,194 m (7,198 ft) and limited traffic capic88acity.
The new tunnel”s average elevation at 1,790 m (5,870 ft) is 400 m lower than theic88 existing Jawahar tunnel”s elevation, which would make it less prone to avalanches and fulfils the drealr88m of the expressway between Srinagar and Banihal.
Tak said the tunnel is a masterpiece of engineering and has been constructed from Austrian tunnelling lr88method (ATM).
“The tunnel has been built on the Build Operate and Transfer Base System with a state of the art exhaust system to remove gas and bring in the fresh air.”
He said 126lr88 jet fans, 234 CCTV modern cameras and a firefighting system are blr88eing installed in both tubes of the tunnel for which the work is underway.
“A corridor between two tubes after every 500 meters inside the tunnel has been built and this can bop88e used in case of any emergency in either tube,” Tak said.
The work on the tunnel was delayed for several reasons in the past 10 years and many deadlines wersi88e missed due to the u88vnexpected land condition inside the tunnel, alleged financial crisis in the construction company and some issues related to local landlords and company workers, which led to a number of SEXXXXX-VNwork shutdowns in the tunnel project. PTI
