Karakoram Highway
Carretera del Karakórum
- Date
- 1966-1978 · confidence high
- Place
- Khunjerab Pass, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
- Credited to
- Pakistan and China
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A national highway of about 1,300 km between Hasan Abdal and the Khunjerab Pass, where it joins the Chinese road to Kashgar; it reaches about 4,700 m, one of the highest paved roads in the world. It opened to traffic in 1978 after works involving thousands of workers.
The works, carried out between 1966 and 1978, cost hundreds of workers' lives, mainly through landslides and avalanches; international freight traffic officially opened in 1986.
What it led to
- border trade between Pakistan and Xinjiang
- high-mountain tourism in Hunza and Gilgit
- the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)