The Atal Tunnel at Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh will remain closed on Saturday from 11 am to 12 pm for the maintenance work, the Lahaul Spiti Police has confirmed.
The strategically important all-weather Atal Tunnel was thrown open to the public by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 3 October.The historic decision to construct a strategic tunnel below the Rohtang Pass was taken on 3 June, 2000, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
The South Portal (SP) of Atal Tunnel is located at a distance of 25 km from Manali at an altitude of 3,060 metres, while the North Portal (NP) of the tunnel is located near village Teling, Sissu, in Lahaul Valley at an altitude of 3,071 metres.
The 9.02 km long tunnel, the longest highway tunnel in the world connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year.
The horseshoe-shaped, single tube double lane tunnel with a roadway of 8 metres has been designed for traffic density of 3000 cars per day and 1,500 trucks per day with max speed of 80 km/hr. It has the state of the art electromechanical system including semi transverse ventilation system.
Earlier, the valley was cut off for about six months each year owing to heavy snowfall.
The tunnel reduces the road distance by 46 kilometres between Manali and Leh and the time by about four to five hours.