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The Kodaikanal–Munnar Road (old SH-18) was located in Dindigul District and Theni District of Tamil Nadu and Idukki district of Kerala in South India. It covers from Kodaikanal to Munnar. The road was improved by the British in 1942 as an evacuation route in preparation for a possible Japanese invasion of South India. With a maximum elevation of just south of Vandaravu Peak, it was among the highest roads in India, south of the Himalayas, prior to its closure in 1990.〔〔Doddabetta, the highest mountain in the Nilgiri Hills, at , has road access to the summit.〕 ==History== In 1864 Douglas Hamilton submitted a report stating that the Berijam Swamp area was the best site in the Palani Hills for a military cantonment or sanatorium.〔 p. 155〕 "Let but the lake be reconstructed and a road made to it, and this magnificent sheet of water . . . will of itself attract residents to its vicinity. "The Fort Hamilton military outpost, later built there, was named for him. In 1900 the Kundale Road and Tramway between Munnar and Top Station was completed by the Kanan Devan Hills Produce Company. The road runs down the valley of the Kundale River. The road was built wide of which was metaled. The sharpest curve was and the steepest gradient was 1 in 30. There were 22 timber bridges between and span. By 1905 the timber bridges were being replaced by steel and concrete structures.〔 In 1915, Law's Ghat road, opened Kodaikanal to cars, trucks, and buses coming from Batlagundu. In 1925, a second ghat road was started from Berijam Lake to Top Station, connecting with Munner, Kerala and eventually Cochin, a total distance of . This was an extraordinarily slow dirt road, taking about eleven hours to reach Cochin. The road was impassable during and after heavy rains.〔 In 1942, during World War II, Madras City was bombed by the Japanese but the physical damage was negligible, though the public response was major and the city was evacuated because of fears of subsequent Japanese bombing and invasion. Many rich families from Madras moved permanently to the hill stations in fear. In 1942 in preparation for a possible Japanese invasion of India, the British began improvements to the road to facilitate its use as an evacuation route from Berijam Lake (Fort Hamilton) near Kodaikanal along the southern crest of the Palani Hills to Top Station. It was then called "The Escape Road". Existing roads then continued to Munnar and down to Cochin where ships would be available for evacuation out of India. 〔G.Venkataraman,Radio Sai, Volume 4 - Issue 07, (''Kodai, Some History And Geography'' ) (July 2006)〕 The road was operative till 1990 but was ignored by both the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and the Kerala Highways Department in a dispute over its inter-state ownership.〔 The old road is now in disrepair and overgrown with vegetation in some places. It is used as a logging trail and as a walking trail by local villagers and trekkers. Encounters with wild animals including bison, elephants, Leeches and leopards sometimes occur on the trail.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Berijam lake )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kodaikanal–Munnar Road」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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