The Department of Roads (DoR) has begun widening a new track around a landslide on the Prithvi Highway in an effort to restore traffic along a key route linking Kathmandu with the country’s western districts.

The department said excavators were working from both ends of the landslide site at Krishnabhir, with about 50 metres of the temporary track opened so far.

Sajana Adhikari, chief of the Malekhu-Muglin road section, said the new route was being built above the landslide area to allow vehicles to pass.

The initial track is only wide enough for excavators, the department said in a statement on Facebook. Workers cut and removed trees from the area on Thursday to prepare for the construction.

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has approved both immediate and long-term measures to reopen the Krishnabhir section and restore the Prithvi Highway.

Under the immediate plan, authorities will build structures above a gabion breast wall on the hillside so that vehicles can use the route. Workers will also install “sacrificial gabion boxes” and drop boulders from the hillside as part of efforts to stabilise the area, the department said.

For a longer-term solution, the department is studying options including a tunnel, soil nailing and sheet piling.

The Malekhu-Muglin section has been blocked since Sunday because of the landslide. Vehicles travelling to and from Kathmandu have been using alternative highways.