Highway transportation is the lifeblood of Ngari. Located in the western part of Tibet, Ngari had few transport facilities, due to its complicated geographic environment and vile climate. Over the past several decades, the State allocated huge sums of money for building roads in Ngari. The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway, 1,179 km long from Shiquanhe Town to Yecheng, Xinjiang, was open to traffic on October 6, 1957 after the hard work of more than 4,000 builders, spanning over a year and seven months. The road winds through 10 snow-covered mountains of the Kunlun Ranges. Almost 1,000 km of the road is 4,000 meters above sea level and 130 km of the road is 5,000 meters above the sea level. It is the highest road in the world. However, because of adverse circumstances and natural destruction, it is still a difficult journey to Ngari along the road. Today, there are three roads leading to Ngari: a 1,750 km long grassland and gobi earthen road from Lhasa; the 2,000 km long highway from Golmud in Qinghai Province; and the 2,800 km long highway from Urumqi, Xinjiang. Three lines in the north, middle and south link Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region and Ngari. The northern line runs through the boundless land of northern Tibet, a no-man's land. The middle line runs northward to Shiquanhe Town via Sagar County of Xigaze, and the southern line, 1,700 km long, goes westward along the northern foot of Himalayas. Regular bus services between Lhasa and Shiquanhe Town have recently been made available to the public. This resulted in a great improvement in Ngari traffic.

                                                reship from en.tibet.cn