Hyderabad likely to get India's longest tunnel road soon

Hyderabad, the city of pearls, may soon have the country’s longest Highway Road Tunnel (around 10 km) from Jubilee Hills Road no. 45 Junction to Banjara Hills, Road no. 12 Junction.

According to reports, the Telangana government has a proposed four-lane tunnel that will wind its way via the KBR Park junction to NFCL Junction, Punjagutta.

The state government has assigned the task to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), which will do a feasibility study and detailed project report in the near future.  

Presently, the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Tunnel is the longest road tunnel in India at 9.20 km and connects Kashmir to the rest of the country.  

The government had earlier proposed six junctions around the KBR Park by constructing multi-level flyovers under the SRDP project, but this required felling of over 1,500 trees.

But now, the Telangana government has reportedly decided to explore the option of a tunnel road as it would help avoid felling hundreds of trees in the KBR Park for the Strategic Road Development (SRDP) project.

Background 

The Centre had given its nod to the proposal a few years back but stated that the civic body (GHMC) should not touch the trees inside the first boundary wall of the park that comes under the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ). The trees outside the second boundary wall did not come under the ESZ.

After this, Municipal Minister KT Rama Rao had instructed officials to explore the possibility of an underground tunnel to avoid falling off any tree.