Plans afoot to build 10-km long tunnel in Hyderabad

Telangana government has planned to build the country’s longest Highway Road Tunnel, tentatively about 10 km from Jubilee Hills Road No 45 Junction to Banjara Hills Road No 12 Junction in Hyderabad. The proposed four-lane tunnel will wind its way via the KBR Park junction to NFCL Junction, Punjagutta and will be executed by using a Tunnel Boring Machine. The state government is opting for the construction of a tunnel road that could help avoid the felling of trees at KBR Park for the Strategic Road Development (SRDP) Project.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will take up the construction of the proposed tunnel and the civic body is in the process of initiating a feasibility study for it.

Prior to this, the government had proposed six junctions around the KBR Park by constructing multi-level flyovers under the SRDP project, but this required felling of over 1,500 trees. The Union government opined that GHMC should not touch the trees inside the first boundary wall of the park that comes under the ESZ. The trees outside the second boundary wall did not come under the ESZ after which the state instructed officials to explore the possibility of an underground tunnel to avoid the felling of any tree.