'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎361r] (724/862)

ROADS 563
rounding country is dry and should be avoided. If roads have to
cross such tracts they should at least be roughly metalled. The
Assyrian foothill region, excepting the Kirkuk, Erbil, and Mosul
plains, the last two of which are fairly heavily cultivated, is a good
road area. Stone is available for metalling where required, traffic is
seldom restricted to the prepared width of road, and it is often better
to diverge across uncultivated land on either side.
Iraqi Kurdistan. In the Kurdish mountains, where there is ample
material for first-class roads, it is the physical difficulties which have
to be considered. A few good well-engineered metalled roads have
here been constructed, at considerable initial cost, those from Erbil
by Ruwandiz to Rayat, and from Kirkuk to Sulaimaniya and on to
Penjwin being especially noteworthy.
The Western and Southern Deserts. The introduction of the motor
car has made a great difference to desert travel, and this region is
perhaps the most suitable of all for modern transport. The surface
is often excessively hard on tyres, and rocks and depressions may
slow down transport in places, but the greater part of the desert
affords a hard, level, all-weather surface suitable for all classes of
motor transport at fairly high speeds (photo. 217).
Road Maintenance
All roads outside municipal areas are the direct responsibility of the
Public Works Department; those within municipal boundaries are
maintained by the local authorities, assisted by grants bytheP.W.D.
Maintenance consists chiefly of repairing the damage caused
annually by rains and floods, and by excessive traffic after rain.
Metalling is, as mentioned above, a great difficulty. During the War
of 1914-1918 road metal for the Basra area was brought from Kuwait,
and a railway was laid to Jabal Sanam for similar purposes. This was
dismantled during the inter-war period, but has again been laid since
I 94 I (?• S^S)- Gravel is also collected with much labour from the
desert edge, but the cost is high. In recent years considerable
progress has been made in surfacing roads with tarmac, obtained
from the country’s rich bitumen deposits.
Principal Roads
The principal roads outlined below are those which follow the two
mam rivers, and those which reach outwards from such centres as
Baghdad, Mosul, and Kirkuk. Only the main features and principal
bridges are given, since from what has been said above the details of