'Military Report on Russian Turkistan or Central Asia' [‎26v] (57/168)

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Akrabat, Darband, and Shirabad ; a distance
of about 260 and 275 miles respectively.
This route offers no special difficulty.
(21.) A more direct road from Samarkand to
Termez, by Ivitab, Shar-i-Sabz (joining the
last-mentioned route, some distance north of
Yartube), Darband, and Shirabad, a distance
of 240 miles. Fit for wheels, except perhaps
between Shar-i-Sabz and Akrabat.
(22.) From Samarkand to Termez rid Shar-i-Sabz.
Yartube, Khuzar, Gumbulak, Tengikaram,
Akrabat, Darband, and Shirabad, a distance
of 237 miles. This road is a regular post
road, divided into 17 stages, opened in
January 1902; it appears to be a combina
tion of other routes previously utilized, giving
increased facilities, and probably largely super
seding them.
From a comparison of the later stages of
routes 20, 21, and 22 it appears probable that
the actual capacity of these three roads would
not largely exceed that of one fairly good
road. Similarly it will be noticed that the
routes from Karshi mentioned above, i.e. the
last alternative indicated under 19 {b), 19 (c),
and 19(r/), all coincide in certain stages with
(20), (21), and (22). It therefore appears
improbable that all these routes could be
fully utilized simultaneously.
The above are the most important roads leading
from the Central Asian Railway to the Afghan frontier,
but it must be remembered that, with the rare exceptions
indicated as Government post-roads, they are merely
natural surface tracks, and would be liable to con
siderable and rapid deterioration when subjected to
heavy traffic, or bad weather. Any expression of
opinion as to their goodness, or fitness for wheeled
traffic, must therefore be understood as a relative term,
in comparison with other routes in Central Asia, under
normal circumstances.