Navigating treacherous terrain and a dense population, a team built a 118-km road that will ease congestion and create economic opportunity for Pakistan. The team collaborated with academic institutions, national laboratories, international equipment and materials suppliers, security advisers, medical teams and consultants from many countries. 

While building 105 bridges, six tunnels, three interchanges, six toll stations and 22 related buildings, the team provided assistance to orphanages, schools, people with disabilities and other socially vulnerable groups along the project route. Advanced tools included drones for surveying and mapping, intelligent bridge tensioning and automatic spray curing technology, a tunnel satellite system and comprehensive slope protection. Considering the region’s elevated seismic risks, the team utilized high-damping isolation bearings on the bridges, a first for Pakistan. Other seismic measures included plastic hinges on pile columns, increasing the widths of beams and setting seismic tie rods at the beams’ ends.