The World’s Longest Highway Tunnel That Connects Manali to Leh Is Finally Here!

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Credit: Hari Menon Photography

Photo of The World’s Longest Highway Tunnel That Connects Manali to Leh Is Finally Here! by Saheli Bera

Leh, the land of monasteries, Buddhism, and picturesque mountains have wooed travellers all across the globe. The magical aura of this place has proven that 'Barren can be so Beautiful'. The fluttering Buddhist flags, the gleeful monks, roaming leopards in high mountains, tranquil mountain villages and pristine lakes and glaciers snuggled in the arms of Himalaya would transport you to some otherworldly experience. The pronounced touch of Tibetan culture, food, religious rituals and lifestyle have beckoned the tourists from ages after ages.

If you haven't visited Leh yet (like me) or very much willing to visit Leh once or twice or thrice or 'n' number of times again, then there is an amazing news for you.

Now the good news is, very soon it would be possible to reach Leh from Manali in much shorter time. The distance between two destinations would be cut down by 46 Km and four hours of travel time would be saved, thanks to the newly built tunnel, the Atal Tunnel. No, I'm not joking, trust me. The newly constructed tunnel is the world's longest highway tunnel, situated at the altitude of 10,000 feet. This engineering marvel took almost 10 years to be completed and it's a 4000 crore project. Some impressive features of this tunnel are as follow

Width: 10.5 Meters

Clearance: 5.25 Meters

Length: 8.8 Km

Photo of The World’s Longest Highway Tunnel That Connects Manali to Leh Is Finally Here! 1/1 by Saheli Bera
Source: flipboard.com

This tunnel can effectively reduce the distance between Leh and Manali by 46 KM. This 9.02 km long tunnel with immense strategic importance cuts through the Pir Panjal range. Rowa flyer technology has been successfully deployed to build this tunnel. It can be very helpful to provide all-weather connectivity to our military forces based in Ladakh. This tunnel is also equipped with CCTV cameras, fire hydrants, and air quality monitoring system. This tunnel has an old history and this project has come a long way. After being conceived by Indira Gandhi in 1983 for the very first time, it got the final approval in 2005. Sonia Gandhi laid the first stone in 2010. The tunnel has been named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee as 'Atal Tunnel'. the current prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi will inaugurate it by next month tentatively.

Isn't it an exciting news for all the mountain lovers, travellers and backpackers? Once this pandemic situation gets normal, this brilliant project can contribute significantly to offer sustainability and powerful come back to the heavily affected tourism sectors based in Himalayan regions.

If you want explore more of the journey of my itchy feet please visit my Instagram Page at Saheli Bera