Govt. completes longest road tunnel

With the completion of the country's strategic Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, India has joined the league of extraordinary nations with the achieving of this feat. Built at the cost of Rs. 3720cr, the nine kilometer long Nashri road tunnel is expected to be commissioned shortly. An engineering marvel, it will mark the country's debut in adopting the integrated tunnel control system (ITCS). The state-of-the-art ITCS system, which is a hallmark of selective countries in the world, will ensure automatic control of tunnel lighting, ventilation, communication, fire control, vehicle monitoring. The tunnel will cut down the distance by around 30 kilometers and will save the motorists' travel time by two hours. There was no road tunnel with nine kilometer distance in the country till now. It may be recalled that NHAI is also constructing another major road tunnel – 8.45 km long on the Banihal Qazigund stretch - on Srinagar Jammu National Highway, which will again cut down the distance between two towns by 16- km, said sources.