NHAI: Two Emergency Air Strips In Prakasam District Nearing Completion

PRAKASAM: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been constructing airstrips for emergency landings in more than 11 locations across the country. As part of this, they are being constructed in two places at Prakasam district in the State of Andhra Pradesh. One is being laid at Korishapadu-Reningavaram and the other at Kalikivaya-Singarayakonda underpass in Singarayakonda.

Constructions will be carried out on these runways on the National Highway without any hindrance to vehicular traffic during the landing of the aircraft. 

• The one at Korisapadu – 5 km to Renigavaram is being built at a cost of Rs.23.77 crore. The airstrip is being constructed with a length and width of 60 meters so that 4 aircraft can land at once.
• A 3.60 km long airstrip will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 52 crore for the emergency landing of flights between Kalikivaya and Singarayakonda.

-The runway will be made of concrete with a width of 33 m, a gravel road with a width of 12.50 m on both sides, and drainage with a width of one meter on either side of the road.

-The ATC building will be constructed 150 meters from the runway. Currently, the construction of the concrete road for the runway is nearing completion. Construction of drainage and gravel road on both sides has been completed.

-The culvert construction at Kandukur flyover is complete, while the bridge at Kalikavaya flyover is under construction.

-NHAI has completed the runway works related to emergency landing facilities on National Highway No 16 at two places between Chilakaluripeta and Nellore. A 4.1 km long 33 metres wide cement airstrip has been readied at Muppavaram near Addanki.

The Central government in 2018 had decided to develop 11 emergency landing airstrips on National Highways in different states to operate airplanes when road or rail traffic gets disrupted. The first such strip was set up on NH-151 near Khambhaliya at Dwarka district of Gujarat. The other emergency landing strips are being set up at Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Jammu & Kashmir. According to projectstday.com, the Union government has identified 13 roads across the country on which emergency landings are possible. Two of these roads are under the respective State's control, while the other 11 roads fall under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The responsibility of site survey and inspection has been given to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and NHAI.

Electricity and telecom poles, trees, and dividers will be removed from the road to make way for the airstrip. A standard design has been prepared for the strip which will have a parking slot for four aircraft, an air traffic control tower, and two gates at both ends of the strip.

The Central government recently inaugurated a 3-km-long emergency landing facility (ELF) at Satta-Gandhav stretch on National Highway 925 here on Thursday for Indian Air Force (IAF) planes at Barmer in Rajasthan The ELF is meant to be used for emergency landing of IAF aircrafts.

Also Read: Emergency Landing Facility For IAF Planes Inaugurated on NH 925 In Rajasthan