The Russian route R256 is a

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

Novosibirsk Oblast Novosibirsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative center, administrative and economic center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of N ...

Altai Krai Altai Krai (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders, clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan ( East Kazakhstan Region, Abai Region and Pavlodar Region), Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative ce ...

and

Altai Republic The Altai Republic, also known as the Gorno-Altai Republic, is a republic of Russia located in southern Siberia. The republic borders Kemerovo Oblast to the north, Khakassia to the northeast, Tuva to the east, Altai Krai to the west, as well ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Its length is 953 kilometres. The width is 7 metres. It is also a part of the Asian Highway AH4. The highway, constructed in the early 1930s by

gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

inmates, extends from

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

to Russia's border with

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, passing through

Berdsk Berdsk () is a town in Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia. A suburb of Novosibirsk, it is on the Berd River. In the 2010 Russian census, its population was Geography Berdsk is on the Berd River. Open land is south of the town and a pine forest coverin ...

Novoaltaysk Novoaltaysk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Altai Krai, Russia, located on the right bank of the Ob River, in the lower reaches of its right tributary the Chesnokovka River, Chesnokovka, across from Barnaul, the administr ...

Biysk Biysk ( rus, Бийск, p=bʲijsk; , ) is a city in Altai Krai, Russia, located on the Biya River not far from its confluence with the Katun River. It is the second largest city of the krai (after Barnaul, the administrative center of the krai ...

, but bypassing

Barnaul Barnaul (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob (river), Ob rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As of the Russian Censu ...

and Gorno-Altaysk. Between Novosibirsk and Biysk the road follows the right bank of the

Ob River The Ob (; ) is a major river in Russia. It is in western Siberia, and with its tributary the Irtysh forms the world's seventh-longest river system, at . The Ob forms at the confluence of the Biya and Katun which have their origins in the Alta ...

, then traverses a

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

region and the

Altay Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their headwaters. The massif merges with th ...

, where it continues through the altitudes of up to 2000 metres. On November 17, 2010, in accordance with Government Resolution 928, the M52 was given a new designation, R256 (in Cyrillic Р256); the M52 designation was used until the end of 2017 when the highway was officially designated as R256.

Chuya Highway

The Chuya Highway or Chuysky Trakt (Чуйский тракт) is the old name of the road connecting Russia and Mongolia. The part of the Р256 road from Biysk to Tashanta is traditionally referred to as the Chuya Highway or Chuysky Trakt. This part of the road is 610 km long. The Chuya Highway is laid over the ranges of Altai Mountains along the rivers Katun and Chuya, over Seminsky and Chike-Taman mountain passes. This route had been pretty rough; the carriage way was erected only in the early 20th century. Prior to that it was where the northern caravan tracks of the Great Silk Road passed. The caravans followed the routes formed along the migration ways of wild animals.

Main stages of construction

* Spring 1901 – construction of the Chuya Highway started. * Middle 1903 – the carriage way between Ongudai and Kosh-Agach was finished. * Summer 1913 года – engineering of the highway started. It was interrupted by World War I. * In autumn 1932 prisoners from Department 7 of Siberian prison camps (SibLAGs) were the main manpower along the whole Chuya Highway. * January 1, 1935, was commissioned along its entire length (Biysk – Maima – Ust-Sema – Cherga – Ongudai – Inya – Kosh-Agach). * The whole highway was coated with asphalt in the early 21st century.

Role

The Chuya Highway is the major infrastructural object of the Altai Republic where there is no railway. The Chuya Highway is basically the most important and stressed road connecting the region with its neighbours. Tourism is the principal activity in Altai. Apart from commercial connections, the Chuya highway ensures traffic convenience for tourists and travelers.

Tourism

The most visited objects along the Chuya Highway include: * Manzherok mountain ski resort * Chike-Taman mountain pass * Chuya and Katun rivers junction * Petroglyphs of Kalbak-Tash ecosite * Geyser lake * Colourful mountains Kysyl-Chin

Flow of tourist

* During the USSR period hiking was the most popular in Altai. The Chuya highway was the starting point of a lot of hiking routes: to Shavla lakes, Aktru glacier, etc. The majority of hikers arrived from the USSR itself. Only a few of them arrived from the Baltic States and Eastern Germany. * In the early 2000, after the Chuya highway was asphalted along its entire length, the number of tourists from Russia increased manifold. In the beginning they were mostly from the nearest regions (Novosibirsk, Tomsk, the Kuzbas). Those visitors got the information from their friends. Starting from 2005 Altai the flow of visitors from the central Russia started. * Starting from 2014 foreigners started to flood Altai. This was encouraged by a couple of important events: # National Geographic included the Chuya highway into the list of 10 most spectacular highways of the world (position 5) # In 2018 the information about Altai was published in the European mass media where it was widely discussed due to the investigation on corruption in relation to Igor Dodon. Banner ChuyskyTrakt 013 2757.jpg, Chyusky Trakt with North Chuya Range Chike-TamanPass 101 0072.jpg, Chike-Taman Pass Road number 258 or Chuysky Tract.jpg, Old name of the road M52 Р-256 highway (Russia) (Altai Republic) (1).jpg, Chyusky Trakt Спуск с Семинского перевала.jpg, Seminsky pass Panorama from the Chike-Taman pass in the south direction.jpg, Panorama from the Chike-Taman pass in the south direction Panorama from the Chike-Taman pass in the north direction.jpg, Panorama from the Chike-Taman pass in the north direction

Useful links

Nationgeografic highway rating

The Chuya highway museum
{{Russian federal highways Transport in Novosibirsk Oblast Transport in Altai Krai Transport in the Altai Republic Roads in Siberia