DUSHANBE, February 18, 2011, Asia-Plus -- The Dushanbe-Khujand highway connecting the Tajik capital and the northern part of the country was fully cleared of snow last night and the highway is open for traffic again.

It has been closed for traffic for a week due numerous avalanches that hit the Maikhoura area in Varzob district, some 74 kilometers north of Dushanbe.

Vladimir Bogumanov, an official with the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), told Asia-Plus today that specialists involved in clearing the highway of snow had worked in very hard conditions for several days.  According to him, storms dumped up to 1.5 meters of snow that impeded the snow removal operation in the area.  “Eight snow plows worked in the site,” Bogumanov said 

Due to possible avalanches it is decided to keep the highway open for traffic only from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, he added.

We will recall that a series of avalanches poured down on the stretch the Dushanbe-Khujand highway in the Maikhoura area on February 7-8.  The stretch was cleared of snow and traffic resumed but for a short while, because four more snow-slides occurred in the area on February 10.

According to the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES), more than twenty avalanches have poured down on several stretches of the Dushanbe-Khujand highway over the past week.