SRINAGAR: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that after the completion of work on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the all-weather-road will reduce its travel time from present 9-10 hours to 4-5 hours.
Talking to reporters in Jammu after inspecting a 924-metre-long Banihal-Qazigund tunnel, Gadkari said the design of the 4-lane Srinagar-Jammu highway has been done on the basis of geotechnical and geological investigation to overcome the possible landslides in this area.
“The landslides are very problematic and it hampers the work,” he said, adding crash barriers and other road safety measures have been put in place to make travel between Jammu and Srinagar safe and smooth. He said work on the 40 km stretch from Ramban to Banihal is difficult and challenging.
“The climate here is very challenging. We had to change the design and it led to an increase in the cost of the project,” he said. The Union minister said five tunnels will come up on the stretch between Ramban and Banihal. It’ll be completed by January 2024.