Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Nagdhunga Tunnel Road has opened
Fact
Viral Video shows a drive-through in Toms Lantos Tunnel in California USA
A one-minute-and-18-second video allegedly showing the newly constructed Nagdhunga tunnel road has come into operation has gone viral on TikTok. The Nagdhunga Tunnel is the first tunnel road project of Nepal that is being built as an official development aid loan project funded by the Government of Japan.
Upon completion, the tunnel will be a part of Tribhuvan Highway and will shorten the distance by 5.7 kilometres, and commuters on the Nagdhunga-Naubise stretch will be able to avoid at least 19 bends and sharp curves along an 8-km section of the roadway.
TikTok user @bob_rock_star posted a video purportedly showing a drive through Naghdhunga tunnel. Text superimposed on the video reads, “See the newly built Thankot tunnel road.”
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
The video posted on July 17 has garnered 11.9k likes, 425 users have shared it and 261 people have commented on it.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker took a few keyframes from the viral video and conducted reverse searches on them. The results pointed us to the Tom Lantos Tunnel on Highway 1 in California, USA. On checking a video published on the YouTube channel named roadwaywiz, we found that the footage showing the entrance, passage and the exit of the tunnel road closely resembled the viral video.
Further, we found several videos matching visuals of a drive through the tunnel. On checking a video published on the YouTube channel named Jason D, we found footage of a northbound drive-through in Tom Lantos Tunnel. However, we couldn’t find the original clip used in the viral video.
Tom Lantos Tunnel was opened in the end of March 2013 to by-pass the Devil’s Slide area on highway 1 in California, a notorious mountain side that was obstructed frequently owing to rock slides and cracks on the road.
Then, we checked the current status of the Nagdhunga Tunnel and found an article published in the Kathmandu Post which confirmed that the Nagdhunga Tunnel Road project deadline has been extended till April 2024.
Thus, our findings clearly show that Nagdhunga Tunnel Road has not opened as the construction work has not completed and project deadline has been pushed owing to various reasons including COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion
The video purportedly showing a drive-through the Nagdhunga Tunnel Road is misleading. The viral clip actually shows the Toms Lantos Tunnel on Highway 1 in California, USA.
Result: False
Sources
Roadwaywiz /YouTube, 23 August, 2019
Jashon D /YouTube, 27 March, 2013
The Kathmandu Post , 21 February, 2023
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
