We drove the upper newly built road Nr. 3 around the original lower “Hamilton Road.” The strategic road across Southern Kurdistan to the Iranian border was constructed between 1928 and 1932 by A. M. Hamilton, the principal engineer of the British Empire. Although Hamilton hoped the road would unite the region’s peoples, it has been fought over many times. He described the building of the road in a 1937 book entitled Road through Kurdistan.
During the construction of the road, Hamilton became aware of the need for solid and adaptable bridges with components that could easily be transported and erected in remote and rugged terrain. With British Insulated Callenders Cables, he designed the Callender-Hamilton bridge system. The bridge parts were bolted together like a Meccano set, and it was popular with the British Army away from the battlefront.
