Kök-Bel road reopens after four-day closure

TOGUZ-BULAK — The road over the Kök-Bel Pass reopened yesterday afternoon after a four-day closure, when snowploughs from the road service's depot at Toguz-Bulak cleared drifts that had blocked it since Wednesday.

While the pass was closed, buses and trucks heading for the Chu lowlands were turned back at the village and sent on the longer lowland route around the western end of the Kyrgyz Range, the road the railway follows. Drivers waiting for the road to reopen filled the village's roadside cafés and repair shops.

"Four days is good for business and bad for everyone else," said Nasirdin Abdiev, who runs a café beside the depot. "Some drivers waited every day. Some turned round on the first morning and swore they would never take this road in winter again."

The pass, at 2,375 meters, gives a shorter route between Talas and the Chu District. The road over it was paved in the territorial period but is often closed by snow in winter. The road service said yesterday that trucks would need chains on the upper section until further notice.