Srinagar, July 29 -- The Ramban-Banihal stretch was never just a road. For people like me, it was a gamble with time, a daily test of nerves, a crack in the spine of Kashmir that swallowed chances, appointments, and sometimes lives.

I've seen this highway through fogged windshields and freezing nights, through blocked paths and broken schedules.

And standing there today, watching it transform into a four-lane lifeline, I felt something I wasn't prepared for: hope.

This road has held too much. I remember the ambulances that couldn't move. The families who walked for miles because buses gave up. The tourists stranded without food. The repeated calls we made, asking if traffic had moved beyond Panthyal.

The answer always seemed the same:...