14 km Long Underwater Road Tunnel in Assam
News Desk
A 14 km long underwater road tunnel is being constructed in the Brahmaputra River in Assam. The tunnel will be strategic importance as it will provide round the year connectivity between the North-Eastern states of Assam and Arunchal Pradesh.
The underwater road tunnel will be constructed with latest state of the art technique which will help the vehicles to operate at a speed of 80 km/h. The tunnel will connect Gohpur(NH-54) with Numaligarh(NH-37) in Assam. The construction of the tunnel is expected to start in December this year and the execution is being done in three phases.
The tunnel will have four lane and even the heavy military vehicles and others services can be transported easily through this tunnel which will save a lot of time for reaching Arunachal Pradesh which share international border with China. The tunnel will be longer than the underwater tunnel being built by China below the Taihu Lake in Jiangsu province,10.79 km long.
The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHAIDCL) has linked in US firm Louis Berger which also prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same.
The tunnel which will be constructed under river Brahmaputra will have two different capsules (Tube) for seamless movement of traffic from both the sides.
Special attention will be taken to see that no water leakage happens in the tunnel and it will also have a ventilation system for the flow of fresh air in the tunnel.
Among the other security features that the tunnel will have emergency exit, drainage system and also equipped with crash barrier system.