Greenfield Wildlife Corridor: Six-Lane Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Highway To Have 27 Animal Passes

Factoring-in wildlife in planning infrastructure development, the six-lane greenfield Raipur-Vishakhapatnam national highway corridor will have a 2.8-km-long, six-lane tunnel equipped with 27 animal passes and 17 monkey canopies.

The aim is to allow unhindered movement in the Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary area.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the construction of three national highway projects for the Chhattisgarh section of the six-lane greenfield corridor on 7 July.

This dedicated infrastructure for wildlife safety and preservation is integrated into many highway development projects across India.

For example, the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor will have Asia’s largest wildlife elevated corridor (12 km) for unrestricted wildlife movement.

The foundation stone for the corridor was laid by the Prime Minister Modi in December 2021.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a comprehensive list has been compiled listing similar projects that emphasise the development of dedicated infrastructure for wildlife along with the construction of national highways (NH) and expressways:

• Haridwar-Dehradun section of NH-58 and NH-72: 731 m combined structure in Motichur corridor, two elephant underpasses at Lal Tappar and Teen Pani on NH-72 and NH-58

• Ganeshpur-Dehradun NH-72A: Four underpasses, 11.6 km elevated corridor and a 360 m tunnel

• Madhya Pradesh/Maharashtra-Seoni section of NH-7: 1,400 m elevated corridor, multiple underpasses and noise barriers

• Madhya Pradesh/Maharashtra border to Mansar section of NH-7: Three animal underpasses, structures, minor bridges and culverts

• Delhi-Vadodara Expressway in Rajasthan NH-148N 2.7 km elevated corridor, and animal underpasses

• Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway (VME) Phase-II: Land bridge/animal overpass, dedicated animal crossings and vehicular underpasses

• SPUR of VME: Land bridge/animal overpass, dedicated animal crossings, vehicular underpasses

• Raipur-Vishakhpatnam: 2.79 km tunnel, 27 underpasses, monkey ladder in Chattisgarh; two tunnels (6.29 km), 14 underpasses, monkey ladder in Odisha; viaduct plus elephant underpasses in Andhra Pradesh.

• Chenani-Nashri Tunnel: 8.98 km tunnel, 1.91 km approaches

• Quazigund-Banihal Tunnel: 8.45 km tunnels, 6.90 km approaches

• Ramban-Banihal: Six tunnels of 2.967 km length

• Bangalore-Vijayawada: 3.75 km tunnel, 2.5 km viaducts, underpasses

• Panvel-Indapur Section of NH-17 (old)/NH-66 (new): Four underpasses, 19 box culverts, monkey ladder

• Gwalior-Shivpuri section of NH-3: Elevated corridor and 5.5 km underpass passing through a wildlife sanctuary

• Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh border to Indore section of NH-59: Underpass, fencing for 9.04 km through wildlife sanctuary

• Varanasi-Kolkata: Total 82 structures in Jharkhand elevated corridor, and underpass, viaduct, increased bridge lengths in Jharkhand region; tunnel, elevated corridor in Bihar region

• Kaithalghat-Simla: Tunnel construction

• Hapur-Garhmukteshwar Section of NH-24: Underpass, tunnel

• Six-laning of Vadakkanchery-Thrissur section of NH-47: Increase the length of one major bridge tunnel by 1 km

• Belgaum-Khanpur Section of NH-4A (Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary): Five underpasses, increased dimension of culverts and bridges, noise and light barriers

• Yamunanagar-Panchkula section of NH-73: Two eco-ducts, fencing, increased dimension of culverts and bridges and noise barriers

• Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh border to Jalgaon section of NH-6: Underpass, monkey ladder, fencing, increased dimension of culverts and bridges, and noise barriers

• Cuttack-Angul section of NH-42: Underpass, fencing, increased dimension of culverts and bridges

• Panikuli-Rimuli section of NH-215: Six underpasses, fencing, increased dimension of culverts and bridges

• Rimuli-Rajamunda section of NH-215: Two underpasses, fencing, increased dimension of culverts and bridges

• Nagpur-Umred Bhiwapur: Elevated corridor

• Bengaluru-Hasan to Mangalore NH-75: Two underpasses

• Bengaluru-Mysore-Madikeri-Mangalore NH-275: Two underpasses, three overpasses (ecoduct)

• Chitradugra-Hospet-Bijapur NH-50: Five underpasses

• Tunikur to Shivamogga NH-206: Seven underpasses

• Khammam to Mangalore NH-565: Increasing the dimension of box culvert

• Rewa to Jabalpur section: Five underpasses

• Itarsi-Betul: Five underpasses, elevated corridor and overpass/eco-duct

• Gwalior-Shivpuri section: Nine underpasses and elevated corridor

• Sanchore to Santalpur: One elevated corridor and 12 underpasses

• Sawaimadhopur-Sheopur: Nine underpasses

• Ambikapur-Bilaspur: Eight underpasses

• Kawardha-Raipur new NH-30: Six underpasses

• Delhi-Katra in Punjab: Increase the length of major bridge with longer span and viaduct

It has been the vision of Prime Minister Modi to minimise the impact of highway development on wildlife.

The development of such dedicated infrastructure for the safe passage of wildlife and their habitation, along with the development of national highways/expressways is a frequent feature of highway development in India.