The Atal Tunnel sets a new record

On the first day of the new year, a record number of vehicles passed through the all-weather Atal Tunnel route. On January 1, a total of 7,515 cars navigated the tunnel route beneath the 13,058-foot-high mountain in Himachal Pradesh, according to Lahaul and Spiti Superintendent of Police Manav Verma.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Atal Tunnel in Rohtang on October 3, 2020, this is the maximum number of cars that have crossed it in a single day.

At an altitude of over 10,000 feet, the Atal Tunnel is the world’s longest tunnel. In Himachal Pradesh, the 9.02-kilometer underpass connects Lahaul in the Lahaul-Spiti district and Manali in the Kullu district. The tunnel shortens the journey between Manali and Leh by 46 kilometres and four to five hours. It was built to handle 3,000 autos and 1,500 trucks per day of traffic. The speed limit at the tunnel’s entrance is set at 40 km/h, while the speed limit inside the tunnel is set at 60 km/h. Digital speed markers have been fitted throughout the tunnel to warn drivers of their speed on a regular basis.

On a daily basis, roughly 950 vehicles pass through the tunnel. On December 27, 2020, a record amount of 5,450 vehicles passed through the tunnel, making it the second largest reported number of vehicles to transit through the tunnel in a single day.