Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the strategic Atal Tunnel in the Himalayas.

There are various interesting facts to know about the tunnel, which has been named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Also read: PM Modi launches strategic Atal highway tunnel in Himalayas

Here are 10 things to know about the Atal Tunnel:

  1. The 9.02km tunnel is the longest highway tunnel in the world.
  2. It took nearly 20 years to be functional since the time of conception in 2000 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee government with its foundation stone laying on May 26, 2002.
  3. The Rohtang tunnel was renamed as Atal Tunnel on December 25, 2019 in the memory of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
  4. Atal Tunnel is located at a distance of 25km from Manali at an altitude of 3,060 metre.
  5. The tunnel has been built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas.
  6. The tunnel has been designed for a traffic density of 3,000 cars and 1,500 trucks per day with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.
  7. It is a single tube double lane tunnel and horseshoe-shaped with a roadway of 8 metres and an overhead clearance of 5.525 m.
  8. The tunnel is 10.5-m wide and a 3.6×2.25 me fireproof emergency egress tunnel has been constructed into the main tunnel itself.
  9. At every 25 metres there are evacuation lighting and exit signs and broadcasting system is available throughout the stretch.
  10. The tunnel has been equipped with various security features including telephone connections at every 150 metres for any emergency, fire hydrant mechanism at every 60 metres and auto incident detection system and CCTV cameras.