The Romantic who created Transkam

Ruthen Gagloev, who developed the project of the Trans-Caucasian highway, connecting the South to the North Caucasus, was born in 1888 in the Java Gorge in South Ossetia. He graduated from the Tbilisi Gymnasium with distinction and after having received a scholarship from the Caucasus, entered the mechanical department of the Moscow Higher Technical School.

While still a student, Gagloev wrote a petition addressed to Tsar Nicholas II to release money for the construction of roads in the area of Kehvskoy Gorge. The emperor liked the project and gave instructions to allocate finances for the Bank of Gori. A few months later an impassable trail, thanks to some brilliant engineering work by Gagloyev, turned into a broad road. An irrigation canal was also built connecting the villages of Kekhvi and Nikozi.

In the summer of 1913, Gagloev, upon graduation from technical school, was called to the imperial army, where he supervised the construction of bridges and buildings. After the First World War Gagloev returned to South Ossetia, where he embarked on his most important project - the construction of a turnpike. Besides working on the turnpike, Gagloev also created a detailed map of South Ossetia, travelling and having walked hundreds of miles, marking all the settlements on the map, as well as becoming the head of the department of industry of the YUONII and director of the Tskhinvali hydroelectric power plant, while teaching at the Pedagogical Institute of South Ossetia.

Nowadays Ruthen Gagloyev is known to everyone in Ossetia. The project of the Transcaucasian highway is considered to be his most successful achievement. In November 1981 the last meters of the tunnel were cut through the mountains, which is the most important part of the highway.

Tengiz Doguzov, Tskhinvali. Exclusively for VK