Duku highway

Duku highway is like a huge dragon lying on Tianshan Mountain. The 561 km long highway connecting the northern and southern Xinjiang, across the mountains and deep valleys, connects many ethnic minority areas. With its connection, the distance between North and South Xinjiang has been shortened by nearly half from the original 1000 kilometers, which can be called a monument in the history of highway construction in China. At that time, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers fought for nine years to build the road, of which 128 gave their precious lives.

Duku highway

Dushanzi Kuche highway is the section from Dushanzi to Kuche of national highway 217. Duku highway starts from Dushanzi District of Karamay City in the north, runs through the north and south of Tianshan Mountain, and connects Kuche city of Aksu Area in the south, with a total length of 561 km. Because more than half of the area is across the mountains, through the deep valley, connecting many ethnic minority areas, it was selected as "landscape Avenue across the back of Tianshan Mountain" by National Geographic of China.

It was completed and opened to traffic in September 1983, shortening the distance between the north and South Xinjiang by nearly half from the original 1000 kilometers. It is a monument in the history of highway construction in China. In order to build the road, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers fought for 10 years, and 168 officers and soldiers gave their precious lives.

Duku highway has a special terrain with many sharp curves and steep slopes. There are more than 280 kilometers of road sections above 2000 meters above sea level. Affected by natural factors such as snow and ice in winter in Tianshan Mountains, it is only open for five months a year. From the end of September to May of the next year, winter traffic control will be implemented for up to seven months.

Construction process

In 1974, the State Council and the Central Military Commission ordered the construction of Tianshan highway. This is a national defense road for war preparedness, which is listed as a key project of the state and directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Military Commission. The total length of this section is 562.25 km, starting from Dushanzi in the north and Kuqa in the south. It was built by a PLA engineering department in nine years and opened to traffic in September 1983. It is the early form of today's Dushanzi Kuqa highway (National Highway 217). During the nine-year highway construction, 168 PLA soldiers were killed by avalanches, mud rock flows and other reasons, and were buried in the martyrs' cemetery of qiaoerma along the highway, and a memorial was built nearby to commemorate them.

General situation of highway

Tianshan Mountains is an important mountain system in Central Asia. It divides Xinjiang into two parts: South Xinjiang and North Xinjiang. It is adjacent to Junggar Basin in the north and Tarim Basin in the south. Duku highway runs through the middle part of Tianshan Mountain, starting from Dushanzi District in the north to Kuqa city in the south, with a total length of 563km,

The geographical coordinates are 82 ° 55 '- 84 ° 58' e and 41 ° 42 '- 44 ° 19' n

It is a section of national highway 217 (chainage k585 to k1117),

The north entrance is more than 300 kilometers away from Urumqi, and it takes at least 12 hours to drive. After the No.2 tunnel is changed to open line, it is 536 km, and the technical level is grade III. The surface course of the whole line is 3 cm asphalt surface, and the base course is 10 to 25 cm graded gravel

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From Dushanzi to Dushanzi, Duku highway climbs from north to south along the dry valley of Kuitun River to the depth of Tianshan Mountain, crosses the haxilegendaban (tunnel) of borokonu mountain in North Tianshan Mountain with an altitude of 3390 meters, and then goes down to the green qiaerma in Kashi River valley; then goes up to yuximolegaedaban (tunnel) with an altitude of 3300 meters, and goes down to the Gongnaisi River Valley After leaving Nalati, it goes up to laerdundaban, which is 2700 meters above sea level, and then goes down to the vast Bayinbuluke grassland; from Bayinbuluke, it goes south over tierimaitadaban (tunnel), which is 3370 meters above sea level in the Middle Tianshan Mountains, and then gradually goes down to dalongchi and xiaolongchi, and then passes through the Mysterious Grand Canyon of Tianshan Mountains, potala palace and other mountain landscapes Finally, it reaches Kuche, the terminal of Duku highway.

There are more than 280 km sections of Duku highway above 2000 meters above sea level, of which four Daban are above 3000 meters above sea level. The road passes through five rivers and snow proof corridor, and crosses the hashilegen highway tunnel, which is the highest in China at that time. But at the same time, landslides, avalanches, water damage and other disasters have harmed the highway for many years.

Construction function

In the past, it was necessary to bypass daheyan or Hejing from Dushanzi to Kuqa. The completion of the road connected the direct communication between northern and southern Xinjiang in the middle of Tianshan Mountains, thus shortening the mileage of 300-500 km. It is of far-reaching significance for communication between the north and the south, increasing the unity of all nationalities, developing and constructing the frontier, shortening the operating mileage of the north and the south, activating the economy, and consolidating national defense. Duku highway is rich in resources, such as oil fields, coal fields, forest farms, grain and oil bases, fruit producing areas, fine wool sheep producing areas, pilose antler producing areas, etc. Therefore, after the completion of the highway, its development and circulation have been accelerated to a certain extent.

At present, Duku highway is also an important channel of natural landscape tourism in Xinjiang. Along the way, Nalati grassland, qiaoerma scenic spot, big and small dragon pool, Bayinbuluke grassland and other natural and cultural scenic spots have attracted many tourists at home and abroad, and brought certain income and tourism popularity.

geological environment

Geology and climate

The route traverses the middle part of the Tianshan Mountains. Along the route, intrusive rocks, volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks of different periods can be observed successively. There are several large-scale structural lines in the Tianshan Mountains. The ophiolite suite in the North Tianshan Mountains consists of peridotite, gabbro diabase, Pillow Basalt and radiolarian silicalite. The ultramafic belt near the haxilegen fault, Carboniferous volcanic rocks and Jurassic coal bearing rocks in the eastern margin of Yining basin They are the Middle Proterozoic eyeball like mixed gneiss, Yangqi stone schist and mylonite in lardundaban, the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous diacetate and clastic rocks and abundant corals, brachiopods, stromatoporoids and fossils in harkeshan, the early Devonian Pillow Basalt, radiolarian silicalite and ferromanganese beds in the Silurian Devonian, and the Mesozoic Cenozoic in Kuqa basin Along the way, you can visit Gobi oasis, mountain tunnel, modern glacier, beautiful forest, grassland, mountain lake and Swan Nature Reserve.

Environmental Geomorphology

The southern end of Duku highway starts from the scattered karst landform, followed by the saltwater ditch landform, which is exquisitely carved by wind and looks like a huge relief art museum, and the "Potala Palace mountain landscape" which is surrounded by towering reddish brown peaks. It is steep and majestic.

Landscape along the way

Dushanzi Nalati section

220 km from Dushanzi to Nalati

The car began to climb all the way up the mountain road, and the most rugged section of Duku road appeared. On one side of the road is a dangerous mountain. From Dushanzi to qiaoerma, there is a dangerous road called "tiger mouth".

Narati to bayinbrook

60 km from Nalati to Bayinbuluke: Nalati, three dimensional grassland and Xueling spruce

From narati, new landscapes began to appear. After Jorma, the green grassland and rivers gradually disappeared.

Bayinbuluke to the big and small dragon pool

120 km from Bayinbuluke to xiaolongchi: Bayinbuluke grassland and xiaolongchi

Down the mountain, saying goodbye to Yili's startling glance, you come to Bayinbuluke, another new scenery on the Duku highway. It is the second largest grassland in China after Hulunbeier. We have been climbing mountains and mountains all the way since we set out, but when we got to Bayinbuluke, it was a vast area of "one horse, one river".

From xiaolongchi to Kuche

137 km from xiaolongchi to Kuche

The Grand Canyon is mainly composed of sedimentary rocks. Through the action of Tianshan Mountain faults and crustal movement, and through years of wind erosion and rain erosion, a series of wavy bends have taken place in the rock strata. Now, different folds and fault lines on the side wall of the canyon can be clearly seen.

Kuqa, known as kuci in ancient times, is an important town on the silk road.

Scenic spots along the way

At the south end of Duku highway, people will also enjoy the magnificent kizilia mountain landscape area, where the red mountains and stone forests are magnificent. Not only that, the Mysterious Grand Canyon of Tianshan mountain nearby also shocked the tourists with its deep and breathtaking winding path.

In addition, the "A'ai Grottoes" excavated in the Tang Dynasty was also found in the canyon. There are exquisite murals in the grottoes. This area has become an authoritative location shooting base.

Kuqa River is always on one side of the road. When the road passes through the "flame zone" at the south foot of Tianshan Mountain, it is replaced by steep rock walls, green grass, thorns full of yellow flowers and scattered pine trees. The valley is filled with the fragrance of wild flowers, and the towering peaks are filled with chilling snow.

In the mountains, there is a running river. On the hillside, there is a gentle grassland. The sunset light falls on the grassland, covering the grassland with a layer of gold. The shepherd circled the sheep with stones and wooden bars, lit firewood in the yurt, and the smoke rose slowly Along the way, this kind of pastoral songs on the plateau will always come into our eyes, making our thoughts full of poetry.

At the same time, you have to hold your breath for the difficulties of the road. A large part of the cliffs on the roadside form an inverted slope of no less than 90 degrees with the ground, like a knife, with a relative height difference of more than 100 meters. It was folded into three pieces and hung on the mountainside

Chinese PinYin : Du Ku Gong Lu