Banihal Qazigund Road Tunnel

Banihal Qazigund Road Tunnel
Overview
Status Under Construction
Route Banihal ---- Qazigund
Operation
Work begun 2011
Traffic Automotive
Technical
Length 8.5 km
No. of lanes 4 (2 per tube)
Highest elevation 1,790 m (5,870 ft)

Banihal Qazigund Road Tunnel is a 8.5 km road tunnel at elevation of 1,790 m in the Pir Panjal range in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir connecting Banihal and Qazigund. It is a double tube tunnel consisting of two parallel tunnels - one for each direction of travel. Each tunnel is 7 m wide and has two lanes of road. The two tunnels are interconnected by a passage every 500 m for maintenance and emergency evacuation. 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 vehicles will have to pay a toll to use the tunnel.

Status of construction

Construction of this tunnel started in 2011 along with the project to widen NH 44 (which was known as NH 1A before all the national highways were renumbered in the year 2010) to four lanes. The existing road tunnel below the Banihal pass (Jawahar tunnel), has been a bottleneck on the road due to its elevation of 2,194 m (7,198 ft) and limited traffic capacity. The new tunnel's average elevation at 1,790 m is 400 m lower than the existing Jawahar tunnel's elevation, which would make it less prone to avalanches. When completed, the tunnel would reduce the road distance between Banihal and Qazigund by 16 km (10 mile).

  • As of May 2016, 7.2 km of the 8.5 km had been excavated.[1]
  • As of February 2017, the tunnel excavation was close to completion, with tunnel commissioning expected in 2018. [2]
  • May 2017: Tunnel work to complete in 2018.[3]
  • December 2017:The company hopes the project will be completed by 2019.[4]
  • February 2018: Boring work of one tunnel has been completed, boring work of second tunnel is expected to be completed by March 2018.[5]
  • May 2018: Boring of the entire 8.5 km tunnel was completed on 20 May 2018[6] and the tunnel may open in 2019.

Location

The Southern portal (end) of the tunnel is at 33°29′22″N 75°10′22″E / 33.4895°N 75.1729°E / 33.4895; 75.1729 and the Northern portal (end) of the tunnel is at 33°33′53″N 75°11′12″E / 33.5646°N 75.1867°E / 33.5646; 75.1867.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tunnels of Hope in Valley, Governance Now". Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  2. ↑ "Tunnel openings". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Srinagar-Qazigund stretch of highway to be completed by Sep 2017". 18 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Taskeen, Muhammad (4 December 2017). "No light at the end of Banihal Qazigund 4-lane tunnel". Greater Kashmir. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  5. ↑ http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/state/tube-1-of-banihal-qazigund-four-lane-tunnel-completed/274288.html
  6. ↑ http://www.kashmirtimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=79343
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