Route Trident
Route Trident (known locally as the New or Big Road)[1] was built by the British Army's Royal Engineers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
28 Engineer Regiment had used a Neoloy Geocell cellular confinement system for road construction on an exercise in the UK prior to deployment and this was considered to be a practical option to reduce aggregate cost and provide a barrier to the planting of IEDs.
Route Trident was constructed to connect three patrol bases and a number of checkpoints in the area around Gholam Dastagir Kalay, which lies between Lashkargah and Grishk, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
[5] The use of aircraft used up valuable resources of the local British logistics system and the Coldstream Guards were often forced to fight to reach the air dropped supplies.
[5][8] The British Army decided to construct a road to allow better resupply of their patrol bases, to stimulate local markets and social movement, to provide greater stability, and to facilitate reconstruction in the area.
[3] The project took three months to complete and soon came under attack; becoming the first road to be built by the Royal Engineers under fire since British operations against rebel forces in the Dhofar Rebellion in southern Oman in the early 1970s.
[5][7][10] The attacks meant that the engineers had to carry full arms and body armour, and camouflage their surveying equipment when setting out and undertaking reconnaissance for the road.
[5] International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan patrols in the area were also stepped up and unmanned drones engaged enemy combatants preparing to attack construction personnel.
[5][11] The design was altered as a result of consultations with local Afghans, who wanted, for example, to route the road through villages where possible, to minimise the loss of agricultural land.
[5] In addition to its military benefit the road improved the local quality of life with shops, markets, a doctors surgery and a school being built alongside it.
Such was the feeling that one building contractor felt safe enough to return to Babaji from Lashkargah to offer his services to construct a permanent vehicle checkpoint for the route.
One local contractor refused to work because of security issues, which resulted in the project being delayed from its original finish date of July to October 2010.
[16] Responsibility for security of the road and its extension passed from the Coldstream Guards to the 1st Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles Battle Group (RGR) in April 2010.
Their deaths occurred near Basharan, north of Lashkargah, after insurgents opened fire on a group of Coyote and Viking vehicles protecting an IED disposal and casualty evacuation.
[20] Operation Oqab Jarawel (in English: Eagle's Build) was launched in October 2010 to provide security for the extension of the route over the Loy Mandeh river.
[23] The Route Trident extension between Lashkargah and Grishk was reported as complete on April 15, 2011, and has cut journey times between the two centres from two weeks to just two-and-a-half hours and seen insurgent attacks drop by 90 per cent.
