As per media reports, dated September 1, 2020, the Atal Tunnel at Rohtang, near Manali, is near completion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate it this month. Under the Pir Panjal range, it is named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and will be the world’s longest highway tunnel, 9 km, at an altitude of 3000 metres. Its foundation stone was laid in July 2010 by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. It will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and will take little over ten minutes, compared to around 5 hours, providing almost all-weather connectivity to the troops stationed in Ladakh. But for full all-weather connectivity, additional tunnels will have to be built on the Manali-Leh route so that the high passes on the axis do not impede movement due to snowfall. The tunnel will serve as a boon to the residents of Lahaul and Spiti. These Valleys remains cut off for six months.
Salient Features of the Tunnel
Some of the salient features of the tunnel are as follows:
(i) The tunnel begins a fair distance away from it, on the approach roads to the north and south portals. Snow galleries are built at the approach road to the tunnel from Manali side to ensure all-weather connectivity.
(ii) It has an emergency escape tunnel under the main tunnel to provide an emergency exit in case of any untoward incident, and the main tunnel becomes unusable.
(iii) It also provides a fire hydrant every 60 metres, emergency exit every 500 metres, a telephone every 150 metres, turning cavern every 2.2 km, broadcasting system and automatic incident detection system with CCTV cameras every 250 metres, and air quality monitoring every one km.
(iv) Up to 1,500 trucks and 3,000 cars are expected to use it per day with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com