Reconstruction of the Karakoram Highway the China-Pakistan Friendship Tunnels can be traced to 2013, when China began construction on a bypass of Attabad Lake with a combination of 5 km worth of tunnels, two large bridges, and 78 small bridges to bypass the lake which had been formed after a 2010 earthquake triggered massive landslides. The resulting landslides cut off both the Indus River and Karakoram Highway resulting in the formation of the reservoir. Prior to completion of the bypass, all vehicular traffic had to be loaded onto barges to traverse the new reservoir. Construction of the tunnels began in 2012 and required 36 months
The Highway runs parallel to and south of Commercial Road, the Docklands Light Railway and Cable Street. It connects East Smithfield and the Limehouse Link tunnel. The road forms an unofficial boundary of Wapping, which lies between the River Thames and The Highway. It is also close to Shadwell Basin to the southeast, Tower Hill to the west, and Whitechapel and Stepney to the north. The Highway is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in postal districts E1 and E1W. It lies within the parliamentary constituencies of Bethnal Green and Bow and Poplar and Canning Town. The Ratcliffe (sometimes Ratcliff) Highway