Nashri – Chenani tunnel to be ready by July-end

NHAI will request Prime Minister to open it in first week of August

The Chenani-Nashri tunnel, which will be India’s longest, is scheduled to completed by the end of July and is expected to be dedicated to the public by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August.
The tunnel will connect Chenani in Udhampur district with Nashri in Ramban district and reduce the length of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway by 31 km. The tunnel will bypass the hilly terrain of Patnitop and make movement easy.
The company constructing the 9.2-km tunnel has once again extended its deadline of completion, this time by one month, and is now expected to complete work by the end of July.
Construction was started on May 23, 2011, and the deadline for completion of the project was May 20 this year. It was extended up to June 30.
Now, due to some geological complications at the north end of the tunnel at Nashri, the date of completion of the project has been extended by the authorities.
Highly placed sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) informed Kashmir POST that work was on in full swing.
They said electrification work like lights and exhausts inside the tunnel were being done and would be completed by the end of June.
They added that the approach road from the tunnel to the highway might take some more time as a lot of cutting work was involved in it.
The sources further said the NHAI was confident of completing the project by the end of July and would then request the Prime Minister to spare time to inaugurate it in the first week of August.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway is the lifeline for the Kashmir valley, Ladakh and several districts of the Jammu region.
More than 15,000 vehicles, including passenger vehicles and trucks, are plied on it daily. In case of rain or snow, traffic gets disrupted. Construction of this tunnel is expected to allow an all-weather road.
The NHAI has spent Rs 3,720 crore on this project. The two tubes — main tunnel and escape tunnel — are internally connected through 29 cross-passages, each after a gap of 300 metres.
The escape tunnel will be exclusively used by pedestrians. This state-of-the-art tunnel will have parking spots after a specific distance for towing away or shifting vehicles in case of a breakdown.
The tunnel will be the first in India to be equipped with world-class integrated tunnel control system through which ventilation, fire control, signals, communication and electrical systems tolling will be automatically actuated.
It will provide a safe and all-weather route that will result in motorists travelling on the Jammu-Srinagar highway saving a lot of time.