A road trip that many road-trippers have been eyeing through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan has a new finish line. The North–South alternative road, a long-running project designed to link the country's north and south without routing through Bishkek and the Boom Gorge, will only be passable in summer until the end of 2028. Transport and Communications Minister Talantbek Soltobaev told 24.kg that full, year-round access is expected from 2029.
The reason is winter, not paperwork. Sections of the route between Aral and Kazarman, and again between Kazarman and Jalal-Abad, are prone to avalanches and rockfalls once the snow arrives. So although construction of the final tunnel wrapped up at the end of 2024 and the road carried summer traffic in 2026, officials are holding it back in the colder months until protective works are done.
Those works are now under way using national budget money: retaining walls, avalanche galleries and snow barriers are being built along the riskiest stretches, with a completed feasibility study in hand and a presidential instruction to finish the job. The minister expects completion by the end of 2028.
The project has a long history of slipping schedules. Construction started in April 2014 with a promised completion date of 2018 and an estimated price tag of around $800 million, financed through a loan. Roughly $900 million has now been attracted in total across the road's three phases.
For travellers, the road matters because it unlocks a far more direct drive between Bishkek and the south — places like Jalal-Abad and the dramatic Kazarman valley — cutting hours off a journey that currently funnels through the main eastern highway. Once it is reliable in winter too, it should make year-round trips between the north and south much easier. For now, anyone planning to use it should treat it as a summer-only route and check current conditions with local authorities before setting off.
