Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Sept 21: More than 75 percent of the four-lane Jammu-Udhampur National Highway will be commissioned for vehicular traffic by ending of this year as work on the road widening project goes on in full swing.
Except two small stretches on the road, tunnels at Nandni and one of the Jhajjar Kotli bridges, the widened National Highway from Jammu to Udhampur will be available for plying traffic in next two to three months.
So far, more than 65 percent of the project, including one of the four tunnels at Nandni, has been completed and the work is going on in full swing on Nagrota by pass loop, which will be ready by November.
This was informed to the Excelsior by R P Singh, Project Director National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Jammu.
The commissioning of 75 percent widened National Highway six months ahead of the deadline for completion of the project will not only make driving more smooth on the road but also lessen the time taken to cover the distance from Jammu to Udhampur.
Pertinent to mention that widening of Jammu-Udhampur road is part of the National Highway Authority of India’s flagship project of four-laning Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The NHAI has divided the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway four-laning project into six sub-projects, which include widening of Srinagar-Banihal road (67.7 kms), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 kms), Banihal-Ramban road (36 kms), Ramban-Udhampur road (43 kms), construction of Chenani-Nashri tunnel (12 kms) and widening of Jammu-Udhampur road (65 kms).
Deadline fixed for completion of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway four-laning project is May 2016 and Jammu-Udhampur is June 2014.
The NHAI is fully confident of meeting the deadline for Jammu-Udhampur project notwithstanding delay in starting the tunnel work at Nandni, some hiccups in getting Forest clearance for 1.5 kilometer long stretch at Udhampur By Pass Point, acquisition of land at village Jakheni and time consuming process in construction of second bridge at Jhajjar Kotli.
Though commencement of the work on the tunnels at Nandni was late due to delay in clearance by the Wildlife Protection Board, the executing agency has successfully completed one of the four (T1) and more than half of the work on tunnel T3 has been finished. Work on the remaining two tunnels T2 and T4 was started recently, R P Singh explained. Among all the tunnels, T4 has the maximum length of 540 meters followed by T3 (330 meters), T2 (300 meters) and T1 (210 meters).
Excluding the tunnels, one of the two Jhajjar Kotli bridges for movement from Udhampur to Jammu and two small stretches of the road, the 64.5 km long National Highway will be commissioned for plying vehicles with the completion of one kilometer long Nagrota By Pass loop by end of this year, R P Singh explained adding that at present, around 22 kilometers of the widened road was open for traffic.
There are 33 major and 21 small bridges, including 11 viaducts on the Jammu-Udhampur National Highway avoiding frequent crests and troughs on the road.
Rs 1814 crore project for road widening from Jammu to Udhampur was started in 2011.
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