PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Manali-Leh Tunnel on October 3, 2020. It is the world’s longest underground highway. The 9 km long tunnel will link Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley. The curtains for Atal Tunnel will be raised at 10 am in Manali. PM Modi will participate in two functions at Sissu in Lahaul Spiti and at Solang Valley.
The historic decision to build a strategic tunnel under the Rohtang pass was taken by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in June 2000. The Atal Tunnel is a strategically important construction and is expected to give a major boost to tourism in Lahaul-Spiti, thus creating employment opportunities.
It has some high tech installations such as an air quality monitor at every km, telephone connections at every 150 meter in case of emergency
Here are 12 interesting facts about the Manali-Leh longest tunnel.
Interesting facts to know about the Atal Tunnel- the world’s longest underground highway
Escape tunnels are built separately along the main tunnel globally. It is the country’s very first tunnel to have an escape tunnel within the main tunnel because of the topography
It is also the first tunnel to deploy the Rowa flyer technology, which allows engineers to work at inverted levels.
The 9-Km long Atal Tunnel will connect Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley round the year.
Atal Tunnel will decrease the travel time by four to five hours and the road distance by 46 km between Manali and Leh
Atal Tunnel is built at an altitude of 3000 meters (10,000 feet) above mean sea level with extremely-modern details in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas
The tunnel-roadway is 8 metres with an overhead clearance of 5.525 metres. It is 10.5-metre wide and has a 3.6 x 2.25-metre fireproof emergency exit tunnel in the main tunnel
Atal Tunnel is designed for traffic density of up to 3000 cars per day and 1500 trucks per day with a max pace of 80 km/hr
The 9-km long Manali-Leh took a time of 10 years for its completion with an estimated cost of Rs 3,500 crore
Atal Tunnel has entry barriers at both portals. It has an auto incident detection system with CCTV cameras installed at every 250 metres
The tunnel will facilitate all-weather connectivity to remote border areas of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh
The Atal Tunnel has the facility of a fire hydrant at every 60 metres, an emergency exit on every 500 metres, a turning cavity at every 2.2 km, evacuation lighting, and a broadcasting system
The tunnel took 14,508 metric tonnes of steel; 2,37,596 metric tonnes of cement and the new Austrian tunnelling technique for construction
On December 24, 2019, the central government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi took the decision to name the Rohtang tunnel as Atal Tunnel in order to honour the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 95th birth anniversary.
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