[Vocabulary] It's going to take us right up

[Dark_Fury]

The short conversation below is taken from an American military drama set in Iraq.
One fireteam (Misfit) was ordered to follow another (Haymaker) to the metropolitan bank. Boarding military trucks, the teams proceeded through the streets and onto the highway. The trucks are about to enter a tunnel...

Sergeant from Misfit to Haymaker's captain: Sir, I'm wondering about this route.
Captain: Misfit, it's the fastest course we could plot to the bank, over.
Sergeant: It's going to take us right up. I mean, that's all badlands after the tunnel, sir.

What is the meaning of the "take up" here?

To be frank, this whole line doesn't make any sense to me. There were no badlands beyond the tunnel: the trucks entered the tunnel -> a black screen -> the trucks exited the tunnel -> ran into an ambush -> the marines reached the bank on foot. Were they skipped during the black screen? I don't know.

That's all the context I have. Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

It says take us, not "take up". "It's going to take us right up" means following the road will bring us somewhere, which is I admit not very helpful. "Up" in directions can mean "north" or just "onwards".

Without other context I can only guess that "badlands" is military jargon for something like "territory controlled by the enemy".