I rode up The Georgian Military Road 6 months ago in the March snows. The Russians built it in 1799. Watch towers on hills provide line of sight communication from the border to Tbilisi. We drove across Jvari Pass, at 7815 ft. A Soviet monument of mosaics highlights Russian and Georgian history, celebrating the military road that carried Russian troops to help protect the Georgian kingdom from Moslems, and then helped them impose Russian rule in 1801. The road was crucial to the economic development of Georgia.
The road in the pass is under reconstruction. Many of the tunnels, lined with reinforced concrete, have been dug out so tubes cling to the sides of the mountains. The tunnels are one lane wide and are the road in the winter. In the summer a new, wider, road runs along the outside of the tunnels. Along the road a broad orange waterfall originates in mineral spring (with iron in the water) on the mountainside.
