Route Irish

The MRAP convoy rolled westwards to Camp Victory along Route Irish, once dubbed, “the most dangerous road in Iraq.” Not so anymore; that distinction likely belongs to some other Main Supply Route up in northern Iraq, near Mosul.

On the various occasions I had to convoy between the International Zone and Camp Victory throughout my year-long tour, I noticed a subtle transition along Route Irish. Little by little it began to look less desolate, less deserted, more lived in. No more was that echoed than on this last transit. Once bleak concrete retaining walls now were brightly painted with geo-metric and middle-eastern designs. Actual billboards dotted the route here and there for cellular telephone services. Everywhere construction gangs worked on the median, clearing the open fields that a year ago were akin to no man’s land. Overhead highway spans were being repaired, heavy construction vehicles, Iraqi civilian traffic all along the route. I even saw a man on a bicycle.

Things looked better.