Karakorum Highway Realignment (China-Pakistan Friendship Tunnels)
The Karakoram Highway Realignment project complements the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, and allows for direct road access from Pakistan's coastline to the Chinese border. Construction works to upgrade segments of the Karakoram Highway can be traced to 2013, when China began construction on a 24 kilometer bypass of Attabad Lake with a combination of 5 km worth of tunnels, 2 large bridges, and 78 small bridges to bypass the lake which had been formed after a 2010 earthquake triggered massive landslides. The resulting landslides cut off both the Indus River and Karakoram Highway resulting in the formation of the reservoir. Prior to completion of the bypass, all vehicular traffic had to be loaded onto barges in order to traverse the new reservoir. Construction of the tunnels began in 2012 and required 36 months for completion. The 24 km long series of bridges and tunnels was inaugurated on September 15, 2015 at a cost of $275 million and was hailed as a major accomplishment.[1][2]