The people of Himachal Pradesh and others who visit Himachal are eagerly waiting for the opening of the Kiratpur - Mandi road stretch of the national highway. This road after commissioning will reduce significantly the total distance and time taken to reach Mandi and Manali from Chandigarh. Earlier, this newly constructed stretch of national highway was to open on 27 May 2023 and it was opened for two days but later it was closed due to massive landslides on the road after the rain. Also, there are many pending works on the road like creating safety walls to stop landslides and fitting essential signals inside the tunnels.
This newly constructed road will reduce around 40 KM of distance and save a great time for the travellers, therefore, people are very excited to use this road. The road is so good that any person can reach Mandi from Chandigarh in just 2 hours and 30 minutes. I also got a chance to travel on the road but I was denied entry from tunnel 1 at Kanchi Mod so I entered the four lanes from the first cut after the rest house in Swarghat. My journey was very smooth and I reached Mandi in a very short time.
As per the latest news, this road will be open to the public in or after August. This decision is taken due to the early onset of the Monsoon in Himachal Pradesh and due to pending work along the road. The railway flyover near Zaghatkhana is constructed from a single side only and the work on the second section is still pending. There are many small works going on at various stretches of the road. As the hills are newly cut, therefore, after rains the road is experiencing heavy landslides on both sides of the road. Therefore, it is best to avoid this road in the rainy season and use it after the final inauguration.
My experience on the Kiratpur-Mandi four-lane road was very good and I can say that this road is created very well and driving on it is very smooth. Mostly when I drive in hills then the petrol consumption average of the car can go as low as 13 KM per litre but on this road, my car gave more than 19 KM per litre on average. Thus this road saves you time and money both plus it is also very safe as compared to the current road which goes through Swarghat and Bilaspur. I am also waiting for the inauguration of this road to drive again on this road.
