Us Route

a highway extending from Abakan to Kyzyl, a distance of 436 km. The Us Route (Route 35) traverses the Zapadnyi Saian and connects Kyzyl, the capital of the Tuva ASSR, with Abakan, the administrative center of Khakass Autonomous Oblast, and with the railroad system of Siberia. Minusinsk and Shushenskoe are linked to the highway by access roads. Built between 1911 and 1917 as a road for cart transport, it became a motor vehicle road in 1932. The route takes its name from the Us River, a tributary of the Enisei; 85 km of the route run along the Us River valley. Nearly all freight to the Tuva ASSR is carried on the Us Route, and minerals, meat, wool, grain, and furs are shipped from the republic via the highway. The Us Route also handles most of the passenger traffic through the region. The construction of the Krasnoiarsk-Divnogorsk-Abakan road between 1960 and 1966 linked the Us Route to the road system of Southern Siberia.