Atal tunnel rohtang

 Atal Tunnel,Rohtang

Atal Tunnel which is also known as Rohtang tunnel is a highway tunnel built under the Rohtang pass in the eastern Pir panjal range of the Himalayas on the Leh manali highway in Himachal Pradesh,india.At 9.02 km long i is the longest tunnel 10,000 ft in the world and is named after former Indian prime minister Atal bihari Vajpayee.

Atal tunnel construction begins 28 June 2010 and recently inaugurated on 3rd October 2020.

Tunnel reduced the distance between manali and leh by 46 km.The usefulness of the tunnel may be better illustrated thus,the 117 km distance from manali to the the south of pass keylong on North sideof rohtang pass via grimphu about five hours.

It was inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi on 3rd October 2020.

Safety Measures

To prevent any damage to the roads and to ensure the safety of the roads and tunnel users alike ,avalanche control structures are being constructed.The design for these structures is being provided by the Snow and Avalanche study establishment of DRDO.

As the Rohtang tunnel will witness heavy traffic vehicular management and checking pollution is a priority. For this CCTV cameras would be placed at a regular distance and further connected to two monitoring rooms on both ends of the tunnel.

Specifications

The tunnel is intended to create an all weather route to leh and Lahaul and Spiti valleys in Himachal Pradesh.

Length of tunnel 9.02 km.

South portal

North portal

Shape of tunnel is horshoe

Finished width 10.00m at road level 

Challenges

The most challenging task was to continue the excavation during heavy snowfall in winter.Excavation for tunneling was done from both ends.However as Rohtang pass closes during the winter the North portal was not accessible during winter and the excavation was being done only from.the south portal in winters .Only about one fourth of the entire tunnel was exacavated from north end and three fourths was exacavated from south end.There were more than 48m avalanche sites on approaches to the tunnel.

History

The moravina mission first talked about the possibility of a tunnel through Rohtang pass to reach Lahaul in 1960.Later,Prime minister Nehru discussed a rope way to Rohtang pass with local tribes.The tunnel project was conceived in 1983.

Almost 39 years after the first mention when atal bihari vajpayee became prime minister locals suggested his childhood friend Arjun gopal visit him and talk about a Rohtang tunnel .Gopal and two companions , chhering dorje and abhay chand moved to delhi .After a year of discussions vajpayee went to Lahaul on June 2000 and declared that the Rohtang tunnel would be constructed now modi govt renamed this tunnel name now this is called Atal tunnel.