What does the Road of Bones refer to?

Stalin ordered the building of the Kolyma highway which was begun in 1932, and finished in 1953. The road links Magadan located on the east coast of Russia with the east/west highway now known as M56. The crews building the road were mostly prisoners from Russia's notorious Gulag prison camps.

The weather and environment in eastern Russia is very extreme, causing the death of many workers/prisoners. The dead bodies would be buried in the road foundation rather than leaving them for wolves. This is how the road became known as the road of bones.

Even today, traveling the road of bones can be hazardous given the dangerous river crossings on dilapidated bridges.