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Is the road open?
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Every restriction the Roads Department of Georgia currently has posted on the road into Upper Svaneti — Zugdidi to Mestia and on to Ushguli, the Chuberi branch and the Lentekhi back road — in the Department's own words.
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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/mestia-mingrelia-upper-svaneti-ge/is-the-road-open
One road reaches Upper Svaneti, and whether it is open decides the day here — for a delivery, a hospital trip, a marshrutka, a guesthouse booking that may or may not arrive. There has never been a single place to check it: the Roads Department publishes what it knows as news notices, a few at a time, mixed in with every other road in Georgia.
This page reads those notices and keeps only the ones about this corridor — the Zugdidi–Jvari–Mestia–Lasdili road all the way to Ushguli, the Khaishi branch to Chuberi and Nakra, and the Lentekhi back road over the Zagar pass. When the Department has posted a restriction that nothing has lifted, it is here, in the Department's own words. When it has posted nothing, the page says that, which is not the same as saying the road is clear.
No restriction is posted for the road into Upper Svaneti.
Georgia’s Roads Department posts a restriction when it starts and again when it lifts. It has nothing standing on this route — which is not the same as confirming the road is clear. As of 26 Aug, 4:01.
The Department writes this corridor in kilometres from Zugdidi: km 1–138 is Zugdidi to Mestia, km 29–138 the climb from Jvari, km 138–185 Mestia to Ushguli, and km 185–190 on to the Lasdili junction. Kala–Ushguli, around km 170–185, is where rockfall closes the road most often.
A page can be a day behind the mountain
Georgia’s Roads Department posts a notice when a restriction starts and another when it lifts, and this page reads those notices within about fifteen minutes. What it cannot see is the hour between a rockfall and the notice about it. Before a winter drive, ring the municipality or ask a driver who came the other way, and open Roads Department of Georgia — Restrictions.
The Department posts when a stretch is restricted and again when it is restored. It does not publish a running all-clear, so a corridor with nothing on this page is one the Department has said nothing about today — not one it has confirmed open. In winter especially, ring the municipality hotline or ask a driver before committing to the climb.
A restriction can be about your vehicle, not the road
Many notices here restrict only certain vehicles: trailers, semi-trailers and M3 category buses were prohibited above Mestia through last winter while everything else drove freely, and above Ulakhi light vehicles needed anti-skid chains. Those are shown as restrictions rather than closures, and the Department's own sentence says which vehicles it means.
Where this road actually breaks
Rockfall between Kala and Ushguli closed the road on 26 March and again on 14 April 2026, both times reopening the next morning; a rockfall at km 179 closed it for ten hours overnight on 3–4 May. In July, landslides at Tsana and Koruldi and flooding at the Sakdri bridge cut the Lentekhi back road and the Ushguli–Lasdili section for four days. The pattern is short, sharp and seasonal rather than long closures — which is exactly why a page that is out of date by a day is worse than no page.
A restriction nobody lifts is eventually dropped
Seasonal restrictions sometimes lapse without a notice saying so — the winter snow-and-ice limits above Mestia simply stop being enforced in spring. So a restriction that nothing has superseded after a month stops being shown here. If you need certainty about an older one, the Department's page keeps every notice.
Checked 26 Aug, 4:01 (GMT+4). Restriction notices from the Roads Department of Georgia, quoted in the Department’s own words rather than summarised. A restriction nothing has lifted after a month is treated as lapsed and stops being shown here; the Department’s own page keeps every notice.
No restriction is posted for the road into Upper Svaneti.
Georgia’s Roads Department has nothing standing on this route.