Yes, but it's mostly gravel at the last stretch. And it's harsh, especially in winter, gotta make sure your car is in perfect condition and is full of fuel. There's a reason it's called "the road of bones"
How is it normally pronounced? Both e and i in English can be pronounced in a lot of different ways, so is it like the sound in "way" or more like "tree"? I'm used to и being the "tree" sound
So it's sort of an ü? That's what my brain hears in the video.
Checking against the ipa given on Wikipedia, I get that ы is the close central unrounded vowel while ü is the close front unrounded vowel. Listening to the audio samples on those pages, I literally cannot hear the difference.