Reconstruction of the Karakoram Highway the China-Pakistan Friendship Tunnels can be traced to 2013, when China began construction on a bypass of Attabad Lake with a combination of 5 km worth of tunnels, two large bridges, and 78 small bridges to bypass the lake which had been formed after a 2010 earthquake triggered massive landslides. The resulting landslides cut off both the Indus River and Karakoram Highway resulting in the formation of the reservoir. Prior to completion of the bypass, all vehicular traffic had to be loaded onto barges to traverse the new reservoir. Construction of the tunnels began in 2012 and required 36 months
S-1 Strategic Highway S-1 Strategic Highway Strategic Highway 1 (S-1) or more popularly known as Gilgit–Skardu Road (Urdu, Shina, Balti: ) or Skardu Road is a 167 km long Strategic Highway linking Gilgit with Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan territory. The highway begins south of Gilgit on the N-35 National Highway (Karakoram Highway), near Juglot, and extends eastwards towards Skardu city. Initially the surface was gravel, but over the years some sections were paved. The road is winding and in some places only wide enough for one vehicle to pass. On other parts of the highway it is bordered by a cliff drop of hundreds