BRO's Project Vijayak kept Zoji La open through winter, a first

A highway that is not supposed to be open in November

On 11 November 2026, fresh snow fell on Zojila Pass, Sonamarg and Minamarg in Kashmir, and the Srinagar to Leh highway kept moving anyway. Saad Jaffar, a Section Officer with Sonamarg traffic police, told reporters that traffic remained unaffected and vehicles kept proceeding from Sonamarg toward Kargil even as the pass turned slippery. For a highway that has shut for six to seven months most winters, that is itself the story.

The reason it is still open is the work of three Border Roads Organisation units, Project Vijayak, Project Beacon and Project Himank. Earlier this year the first two did something BRO called historic on its own social media: they kept Zojila open right through the 2025 to 2026 winter, past its usual 28 February cutoff, for the first time on record.

The teams behind the record

Project Vijayak was raised after the 1999 Kargil war to keep roads and airfields open across Kargil, Leh, Zanskar, western Shyok, Nubra and Siachen. In its own posts on X, quoted by The Tribune, BRO described the work in blunt terms, "Mission aligned and weather defiant, BRO's Project Vijayak clears winter snow." Project Beacon, which clears the Sonamarg to Zero Point stretch, got similar credit as "snow warriors" working in temperatures that fell to between minus 20 and minus 30 degrees Celsius through January, with blizzards and avalanche threats, according to Greater Kashmir's reporting on BRO's own statements.

The previous winter, Zojila had closed for about 30 days. This time it stayed open through the period BRO tracked, a change the organisation flagged directly to Ladakh's Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra at a briefing on 13 January 2026.

What it means for a Himalayan rider

For anyone planning an early or late season run on the Srinagar to Leh route, the practical change is a longer window of access, not a safer one. Zojila still sits at 11,643 feet and winter driving on it means ice, high winds and real avalanche risk, which is why local traffic police keep telling motorists to slow down and carry chains rather than treating this as an all weather road yet.

The Manali to Leh side is a separate story and riders should not assume the same record applies there. Project Himank's stretch of National Highway 3 between Leh and Sarchu runs 251.5 km and crosses three passes, Tanglang La at 17,482 feet, Lachulung La at 16,616 feet and Nakee La at 15,547 feet. That corridor still goes snowbound for four to five months most years, according to a March 2026 report on BRO's own winter clearance operation there, so riders coming in from Himachal should plan around its usual spring opening, not Zojila's new one.

The longer term fix on the Kashmir side is underground. Union minister Nitin Gadkari triggered the final breakthrough blast on the Zojila tunnel on 9 June 2026, completing excavation of what is meant to be Asia's longest bi-directional road tunnel at 13.15 km. The full opening target is February 2028, and BRO expects it to cut the Baltal to Minamarg crossing from roughly 3 to 3.5 hours today to about 15 to 20 minutes. Until then, it is Project Vijayak and Project Beacon's road crews, not a tunnel, keeping the highway to Ladakh open this winter too.

Sources

• Zojila Pass defies winter closure this season
• Zoji La Pass defies winter closure, BRO keeps Srinagar-Leh highway to Ladakh open
• Fresh Snowfall Blankets Zojila, Sonamarg and Minamarg. Srinagar-Leh Traffic Remains Uninterrupted
• 'Project Himank': Border Road Organisation launches snow-clearance operation on Leh-Manali highway
• Srinagar Leh Highway Status 2026: Zojila Tunnel Update