The 8.45 Km long tunnel would reduce the road distance between Banihal and Qazigund by 16 km, and reduce journey time by around one and a half hour. It is a twin-tube tunnel – one for each direction of travel – with the twin tubes being interconnected by a cross passage every 500m, for maintenance and emergency evacuation. The tunnel would help establish an all weather connection between Jammu and Kashmir, and bring the two regions closer.
Good quality all-weather roads and national highways enhancing the hitherto lacking inter-region and intra-region connectivity has gone a long way in promoting and creating fresh employment opportunities in the post-bifurcation period.
Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of three road packages of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, being built at a cost of over Rs. 7500 crore.
They are for the construction of 4/6 lane access controlled Delhi-Katra-Amritsar Expressway from: Balsua on NH-44 to Gurha Baildaran, Hiranagar; Gurha Baildaran, Hiranagar to Jakh, Vijaypur; and Jakh, Vijaypur to Kunjwani, Jammu with spur connectivity to Jammu Airport.
The new Banihal-Qazigund tunnel's elevation is 1,790 metres (5,870 feet), 400 metres below the Jawahar tunnel. This makes it less prone to avalanches, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said.
The work on the ₹2,100-crore project started in June 2011 and on completion, the tunnel would reduce the distance between Banihal and Qazigund by 16 kms.
The tunnel will have forced ventilation for extracting smoke and stale air and infusing fresh air. It will have state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems for security.
It is expected that commuters using the tunnel will have to pay a toll.
PM Narendra Modi also laid the foundation stone of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway and inaugurates the 500KW Solar Power Plant at Palli village along with 108 Jan Aushadhi Kendras, in Samba
*With inputs from agencies
