Construction
on the Atal Tunnel, formerly known as the Rohtang Tunnel, has finally been
completed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the strategically important,
all weather tunnel on Saturday.

The decision
to construct the tunnel was taken by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government on
June 3, 2000, while the foundation stone for the access road to the tunnel’s south
portal was laid on May 26, 2002.

The Modi
government renamed the Rohtang Tunnel as Atal Tunnel in December, 2019 in honour
of the former prime minister, who passed away a year earlier.

The all-weather
tunnel will crucially provide all-year connection between Manali and Lahaul-Spiti
valley throughout the year. The valley used to be cut off for around six months
in the winters due to heavy snowfall.

The Border Roads
Organisation (BRO) constructed the tunnel, overcoming major geological and weather
challenges, including the 587-metre Seri Nalah Fault Zone. Breakthrough from
both ends was achieved on October 15, 2017.

Here are a
few key features of the Atal tunnel:

·      The horse-shoe shaped Atal Tunnel has
been built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of the
Himalayas at an altitude of 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level

·      It is the longest highway tunnel in
the world at that altitude at 9.02 km

·      It reduces distance between Manali
and Leh by 46 km and travel time by around four to five hours

·      The south portal of the tunnel is 25
km from Manali at an altitude of 3,071 metres and the north portal is located
near the village Teling in Lahual Valley at an altitude of 3,060 metres

·      It has tunnel entry barriers at both
portals

·      It is a single-tube, double lane
tunnel with a roadway of eight metres and an overhead clearance of 5.25 metres

·      It is 10.5 metres wide and has a 3.6
x 2.25 metres fire proof emergency egress tunnel built into the main tunnel itself

·      It has been designed to handle a
traffic density of 3,000 cars and 1,500 trucks per day with a max speed of 80
kmph

·      It has a state-of-the-art electromechanical
system, including semi-transverse ventilation system, SCADA controlled
firefighting, illumination and monitoring systems

·      The Atal tunnel has an emergency
telephone booth at every 150 metres, fire hydrant mechanisms at every 60 metres

·      Auto-incident detection system with
CCTV cameras every 250 metres, air quality monitoring every 1 km

·      There are emergency exits every 500
metres, with evacuation lighting/ exit signs at every 25 metres

·      Broadcasting system throughout the
tunnel, cameras every 60 metres