Central government inaugurates Chenani-Nashri Highway Project

The central government has inaugurated the Chenani-Nashri tunnel project in Jammu & Kashmir. The tunnel is a part of the 286 km long four laning of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. The structure consists of a 9 km two-lane main tunnel with a parallel escape tunnel of the same length. The two tunnels are connected by 29 cross-passages at regular intervals along the entire length of the tunnel. These cross-passages can be used for the evacuation of vehicles and commuters in case of breakdowns or any other emergency. There are two minor bridges on the north and south sides and four-lane approach roads with toll plazas on both ends of the tunnel. The maximum height permitted in the tunnel is 5 metres and special sensors have been installed just before the toll points at both ends for checking vehicle height. The tunnel has an efficient transverse ventilation system. There are inlets bringing fresh air at 8 metre intervals and outlets for exhaust every 100 metres. There is also a fully integrated control system with ventilation, communication, power supply, incident detection, SOS call box and firefighting equipment. Fitted with intelligent traffic mechanisms, the tunnel has fully automatic smart control and no human intervention will be required for operations. The tunnel is also equipped with advanced scanners to detect security threats. Very few tunnels in the world have this kind of fully integrated tunnel control.