Trial run of traffic through Banihal-Qazigund tunnel successful

Jammu and kashmir Economy

The two-hour-long first trial run of vehicular traffic through the double-tube four lane Banihal-Qazigund tunnel along the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was conducted successfully.
The 8.5-km-long tunnel, built at a cost of Rs 2,100 crore in 10 years, is at present going through the testing and commissioning process and is likely to become operational in coming weeks.
It will bypass the Jawahar Tunnel and Shaitan Nalla, which is prone to heavy snowfall and slippery conditions during winters and results in a bottleneck in the strategically important road linking Kashmir to the rest of the country.
The tunnel's operationalisation would reduce the distance between Banihal in Jammu province and Qazigund in south Kashmir by 16 km.
The tunnel is a masterpiece of engineering and has been constructed with the Austrian tunnelling method.
It has been built on the build-operate-transfer base with a state-of-the-art exhaust system to remove gas and bring in the fresh air.
There are 126 jet fans, 234 CCTV modern cameras and a firefighting system installed in both tubes of the tunnel.
The new tunnel's average elevation at 1,790 m (5,870 ft) is 400 m lower than the existing Jawahar tunnel's elevation, which would make it less prone to avalanches and fulfils the dream of expressway between Srinagar and Banihal.