Trial movement of vehicles began on Monday on a bridge-and-tunnel link forming part of the Rudraprayag bypass in Uttarakhand. The route is intended to divert vehicles travelling towards Kedarnath and Badrinath away from the town’s congested market, where local traffic and pilgrimage-bound vehicles share a limited road network.

The project comprises a 900.30-metre tunnel, a 200-metre bridge over the Alaknanda River and connecting roads, with a total length of approximately 1.18 km. According to the Uttarakhand government, it has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 156 crore and will connect the Kedarnath National Highway (NH-107) with the Badrinath National Highway (NH-07). Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inspected the route on Monday and said it would be formally inaugurated soon.

The scale of the annual pilgrimage underlines the pressure on Uttarakhand’s road network. According to state government figures, 51.06 lakh pilgrims visited the four Char Dham shrines in 2025, up from 46.69 lakh in 2024.…