Jammu-Srinagar Highway Closed; NHAI Begins Slope Widening for Restoration Work
Traffic police issued a comprehensive advisory suspending vehicle movement between Jakhani in Udhampur and the Navyug Tunnel in Banihal.
The Jammu Srinagar National Highway was closed for all vehicular traffic on Friday to facilitate urgent slope widening and debris clearance operations. Authorities confirmed that movement along the two hundred fifty-kilometer-long arterial route was completely suspended between Udhampur and Banihal to ensure overall commuter safety.
The closure order was enforced shortly after a fresh batch of nearly sixteen hundred Amarnath pilgrims departed from the Jammu base camp late Thursday night. Officials prioritized the safe transit of the official pilgrimage convoy before halting general vehicular traffic along the vulnerable mountain corridors.
District administration officials in Udhampur and Ramban authorized the temporary closure following formal requests from the National Highway Authority of India. Construction crews are widening hillside stretches at Ladha and Samroli while clearing accumulated landslide debris near Gangroo and Kishtwari Pather locations.
Traffic police issued a comprehensive advisory suspending vehicle movement between Jakhani in Udhampur and the Navyug Tunnel in Banihal. Transport has been completely halted from Nagrota toward Srinagar, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, and Patnitop, as well as from Qazigund back toward the Jammu region.
However, local commuters traveling toward Katra, Reasi, and Udhampur towns are permitted movement past Nagrota upon presenting valid government photo identification. Travelers planning journeys through the region have been strongly advised to verify traffic status before departing until road restoration work concludes successfully across both mountain districts.