M41 highway
The Pamir Highway (Russian Памирский тракт Pamirskii tract, German Pamirstraße ), officially a section of the M41 highway, the main road of the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia. It is the only road through the region osttadschikische Gorno-Badakhshan and after the Karakorum Highway, the second highest paved highway in the world.
Route
The Pamir Highway connects over a distance of 1252 km the Kyrgyz city of Osh with the located in the Tajik region of Gorno-Badakhshan Chorugh or the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. In the north- eastern Tajikistan, the highway crosses at its highest point the Ak - Baital Pass ( 4,655 meters). Then the Pamir Highway goes past the Karakul before crossing the Kyzyl -Art Pass on 4,282 meters above sea level, the Kyrgyz border. Here the Pamir Highway exits northward the Pamir Mountains and passes through the Trans - Alai and Alay Mountains. The Kyrgyz city of Osh marks the end of the Pamir Highway.
The Pamir Highway itself is almost all tarmacked, albeit in poor condition. Whole sections of road were washed away by floods; a repair was made, if at all, only temporarily, often crossing the river is required. Rockfalls and landslides block the parts of the road, often occur. In some places the asphalt surface of the road is so battered that these sections be abandoned in favor of more easily navigable, unpaved roads immediately adjacent to the Pamir Highway. Supply trips from the Eastern Pamirs are frequently carried out in Kyrgyz Osh, since the choice of goods in this city is much higher than in the surrounding Chorugh and the road to Dushanbe is too bad.
The route in the Eastern Pamirs, which is never below 3,500 meters altitude, is characterized by a high mountain desert with little rainfall throughout the year. The valleys here are very wide and spacious. Along the 500 -kilometer route section between Chorugh in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Sarytasch are very few places (including Alichur, Murghab, Karakul ). On a clear day are from the street, among others the summit of Peak Lenin ( 7134 m) and the Muztagata to see ( 7,509 meters). The distance profile in Westpamir other hand differs to that in the Eastern Pamirs to the effect that the road to a much narrower and steeper valley runs west of Chorugh along the Panj and the precipitates are also significantly higher.
History
After the founding of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic in 1929, shortly thereafter started with the establishment of the Pamir Highway. Through the completed already in 1932 construction of the section between Osh and Chorugh began a fundamental transformation of the mountain - Badakhshan region, because this formerly extremely remote area was now connected to the Soviet road network. The Soviets celebrated the Pamir Highway as a structural and ideological feat. Construction projects of similar dimensions (eg, the Karakorum Highway) were usually started two to three decades later. The section of road between Dushanbe and Chorugh was completed in 1940. During the Pamir Highway was officially designated tract in the Soviet Union as Pamirskii, he is from the local population is often known as the street ( raw Tajik, Kyrgyz dshol, Russian doroga ).
The establishment of the link road between Osh and Chorugh allowed for the first time to easily advance into today's District Murghab, the desert-like plateaus were hardly settled before the 1930s. The maintenance of the road must be continuously due to the extremely difficult climatic conditions (including the great height, very low winter temperatures, avalanches ). For this reason, some of the settlements, on the one hand offered the option of auto repair, on the other hand also salvaged vehicles for maintenance of the Pamir Highway originated in the 20th century along the road.
Although it long before the establishment of the Pamir Highway a significant history of crossing the Ostpamirs gave ( connection to the Silk Road ), it was not until the paved road, allowed the permanent settlement structures in the district of Murghab. End of the 19th century Russia was built on the site of the present town of Murghab a garrison ( Pamirskii post) which grew in the early 1930s with the construction of the highway as a supply and supply center terms of population, rapidly. Murghab is today with about 7,000 inhabitants, is the administrative center of the district.
As before, there are highways along the Pamir some checkpoints, including also to fight against drug trafficking from Afghanistan, which increased greatly, especially after the withdrawal of Russian border troops in 2004. In addition, areas off the Pamir Highway between Chorugh and Dushanbe as well as along the Afghan border are mined. Since 2002, an attempt is made by a joint initiative of the OSCE and the FSD to clear the remains of these disseminated in the Tajik civil war mines .. Today the Pamir Highway is a popular destination for foreign cyclists and motorcyclists. In addition to the regular visa for Tajikistan specific approval for the autonomous province of Gorno-Badakhshan is required for the navigation of the Pamir Highway, which can additionally be mitbeantragt at the embassy.