page_title: Gilgit
section_title: Road
hierarchical_section_title: Gilgit / Transportation / Road
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a map of Karakoram Highway, the road that links the Northern Areas of Pakistan to the Xinjiang province of China, connecting it to the old Silk Road.
context_page_description: Gilgit is the capital city of Gilgit-Baltistan, a territory in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and Hunza River. Gilgit is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, and serves as a hub for trekking and mountaineering expeditions in the Karakoram Range.
  Gilgit was once a Buddhist centre; it was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road, and today serves as a major junction along the Karakoram Highway with road connections to China, Skardu, Chitral, Peshawar, and Islamabad. Currently, it serves as a frontier station for local tribal areas. Its economy is mainly agricultural, with wheat, maize, and barley as the main crops.
context_section_description: Gilgit is located approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) from the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The roadway is being upgraded as part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. The KKH connects Gilgit to Chilas, Dasu, Besham, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Islamabad in the south. Gilgit is connected to Karimabad (Hunza) and Sust in the north, with further connections to the Chinese cities of Tashkurgan, Upal and Kashgar in Xinjiang. Gilgit is also linked to Chitral in the west, and Skardu to the east. The road to Skardu will be upgraded to a 4-lane road at a cost of $475 million.
  Transport companies such as the Silk Route Transport Pvt, Masherbrum Transport Pvt and Northern Areas Transport Corporation (NATCO), offer passenger road transport between Islamabad, Gilgit, Sust, and Kashgar and Tashkurgan in China.
  The Astore-Burzil Pass Road, linking Gilgit to Srinagar was closed in 1978.
caption: Route of the Karakoram Highway
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