Chuia Road

a segment of the Novosibirsk-Biisk-Tashanta highway (Route 34). The Chuia Road is 626 km long. Built between 1903 and 1913 as a cart road to Western Mongolia, it traverses the basins of the Katun’ and Chuia rivers. The West Mongolian Road is a continuation of the Chuia Road in the Mongolian People’s Republic.

The Chuia Road serves the intermediate points of Maima, Cherga, Shebalino, Tuekta, Ongudai, Inia, and Kosh-Agach, and there is a 38-km access road from it to the mountain climatic health resort of Chemal. The Maima-Gorno-Altaisk-Choia highway extends from the Chuia Road to the highway running from Biisk through Turochak to Artybash (Teletskoe Lake). The road is also joined by the Tuekta-Ust’-Kan highway, which is 95 km long, and by the Inia-Nizhnii Uimon-Ust’-Koksa highway, which is 130 km long.

The Chuia Road provides interoblast and intraoblast transportation links for the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast and handles commercial traffic with Mongolia. It is linked with the country’s railroad system at the Biisk station. Most of the freight hauled in the oblast travels via the road. All consumer goods and goods meant for industrial and agricultural enterprises enter the oblast by the road, and livestock-raising products are the principal commodities trucked out of the oblast. There is regular bus service on the Chuia Road.