Five new national highways sanctioned for Himachal

Shimla: The Union ministry of road, transport and highways have sanctioned five more national highways having length of 494.875 km, two by-passes, one tunnel, two interceptors and one modern driving school for Himachal Pradesh.

The five new national highways approved are Hamirpur-Sujanpur-Palampur – 59 km, Brahmpukhar-Bilaspur-Ghumarwin-Sarkaghat-Lad Bhadol-Baijnath – 118 km, Bharmour-Chamba-Dalhousie-Pathankot – 133 km, Taradevi-Jubbarhatti-Kunihar-Ramshehar-Nalagarh-Ghanauli – 106 km and Chandigarh-PGI (Baddi) Pokhran-Nalagarh-Ramshehar-Arki-Shalaghat – 83 km. Two more proposed national highways, Slappar-Pandoh-Chail Chowk-Karsog-Tattapani-Dhalli – 296 km and Sainj-Luhari-Banjar-Aut-Bagidhar – 97 km will also be sanctioned soon.

The union ministry also sanctioned bypass roads for Sundernagar and Manali towns. The Manali by-pass will have a 120 meters span bridge near Bahang to facilitate vehicular movement heading towards Rohtang pass.

A tunnel project has been sanctioned for Swarghat for construction of 1.7 kms. long tunnel at kainchi-ka-mod on NH 21. The ministry will also set up a modern driving training school in the state to train people in professional driving techniques.