Chandigarh to construct tunnel to reduce travel time to airport

The Chandigarh Administration is mulling over the construction of a tunnel as a shorter and better route to the international airport in order to reduce travel time.

UT Adviser Dharam Pal told the media that they had finalised two options for an alternative shorter route to the international airport from the Sector 48 side to cut the travel distance.

He said the first option would be the road construction from junction 63 to the airport through Faidan village, for which they had to build a tunnel on the way which would link to the airport road in Mohali. It would be a shorter and better route to reach the international airport from Chandigarh.

Dharam Pal said the second option would be the construction of a road from the Sector 48 side, which would pass via the villages of Faidan and Jagatpura and link to the airport road along the boundary of the airport. However, as there will be two blind turns of 90 degrees on this route, it was not advisable for the safety of commuters and also it would take some more time than the tunnel route.

The Adviser said they had to hold meetings with the Defence and Aviation Ministries for the construction of the tunnel, and only after obtaining approval from the Central Government, work on the tunnel could be begun.

The administration would discuss the acquisition of land with the Punjab Government that falls in Jagatpura village for the building of a wide road.

In December last year, the Adviser had directed the DC and the UT Chief Engineer to draft a report on alternative shorter routes to the international airport.

To decrease the road distance, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had recently chosen to perform a feasibility study on the connectivity to the airport from the Purv Marg side near Sector 48.

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