The World's Most Dangerous Highways -- And you thought YOUR commute was bad!
Here, in Louisville, they have managed to tear up every road leading into the city, and all of the major highways that crisscross the city, so getting any place is a real challenge! The unexpected closings of "off" and "on" ramps to the major highways makes one feel as if the Yellow Brick Road would be a dream highway-- one never knows where one will end up, with all the detours, the temporary pathways, and dodging of construction vehicles. It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 hours to get downtown, depending on the traffic and what is closed for the day!
We complain about it, frequently and loudly, but it seems to be unending, and it never seems to get better. One just sets off from home, hoping one has allowed enough time to sit through the five dump trucks of gravel that are slowly pulling out of side areas onto the highway. One also hopes that they have fixed some of the bad places in the detours, that take one up on a hill, hanging over the highway below, and around a blind curve-- when driving the speed limit is a dance with death itself.
Yet, I must admit, I'm glad that I don't have to travel some of these roads to get where I need to go! Offering scenic views, hair-raising turns, and steep grades, some of these roads are death traps!
I have no idea where this is, but the uphill exit to the left, and the waves seems to make this an interesting commute. I wonder if people shoot off the top of that hill, into the water!
The Leh Malani highway in Northern India connects Leh in the Kashmir state and Malani in the Hamachel Pradesh state. The road reaches heights of over 17,000 feet, and offers a few really bad spots-- landslides, bad bridges, and debris covering the road. This is, of course, near the Himalayas, and I sincerely hope that no one is on it during an earthquake!
The Sani Pass links South Africa to Lesotho in the north. The highway is littered with cars that didn't manage to cling to its steep hills and deadly curves. Wile soaring to heights of 9,300 feet, it is not the highest highway in the world, but seems it to those who travel it. The road is unpaved.
The Guoliang Tunnel, in China, was carved out of the Taihang Mountains of China. It was built by villagers who wanted their town connected to the rest of China, instead of remaining isolated. So the villagers got together and dug this out of the side of the mountain, without benefit of engineers. It worked, tourism in the small town has risen dramatically, notably from tourists who reach the town, panting in fear, from the drive!
The Yungas Raod in Bolivia is a single lane highway that clings to the side of the Andes, and has no guardrails or any safety features. 200-300 people lose their lives every year on this road that connects La Paz with the Amazon rainforest area.
Also in Brazil, the Rodavia de Morte, which is an actual highway, but nicknamed the Road of Death, is 2,864 mile road that cuts through the mountains from Fortoleza to another city beyond Sao Paulo. BR116, the name of the highway, is unpaved, and those who travel it are often subjected to attack from bandits.
The Nanga Parbat Pass in Pakistan is also an unpaved, unpoliced road, but is located in the foothills of the Himalayas. The road reaches 26,680' and is considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world. In fact, some areas must be traversed on foot, and the road is so uneven and unstable.
The Trans-Siberian highway is unpaved, and, at 6,800 miles long, one of the longest roads in Russia. Taking the road, one travels through lush forests, spectacular mountain ranges, and other scenic areas-- but the inclement weather renders the road impassable frequently.
The Tiamen Mountain Road in China, makes me dizzy to just look at-- much less drive, but it IS paved, and offers spectacular views of the mountains. The 7 mile long highway leads up to "Heaven's Gate" the top of Tiamen Mountain.
The Karkakoram Highway links China to Pakistan is actually a paved road. It is the highest international highway in the world! Since over 1,000 Pakistans and Chinese workers died while building the road, it it considered to be one of the most dangerous road to construct in the world. It is known as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
The Dades Gorges Road in Morocco tears through the Anti-Atlas Mountains, but is paved, (a good sign). It offers spectacular views of over 1000 Kasbahs along the road, in beautiful desert settings, and snow-capped peaks. I don't think I'll try this one, either!
The Amalfi Coast Road in southern Italy features pave, (thank God), hairpin turns set among beautiful pastel villas. This reminds me of the road poor Princess Grace lost her life on, and typifies the kinds of roads along the Mediterranean coast.
The Transfagarasan road in Romania, (paved), is listed as one of the top 10 fun roads to drive, it is very dangerous, as well. The end of the road winds up to be at Vlad the Impaler's castle.
The beautiful Trollsteigen Road in Norway offers a spectacular view of the Stigfossen waterfall, but the many hairpin turns, seemingly into thin air, and blind curves make help you toss your lunch.
The infamous Ruta 40, in Argentina doesn't look too bad in this view, for a gravel road-- but look what's coming up! The road begins at sea level, and ascends to 16,404 feet. There is no dearth of beautiful views, as the road crosses 20 National Parks, 18 major rivers, and 27 Andean passes.
Stavio Pass Road was built in the 1820s to unite Austria with Lombardia, its eastern most city. Listed as one of the top ten drives, the paved road is the eastern most highway in the Alps and offers many spectacular views along its 75 hairpin turns.
Well, now that I've taken a view of some of these roads, I'm going to count my lucky stars that I don't have to drive 6,800 miles on the Trans-Siberian Highway, or some of these other places... That being said, I will surely be glad when they get all this road construction finished!
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I ran across this article and thought I would share it with you, since we're all pre-occupied with road construction here in Louisville. Some of these places make downtown look good!
I hope you enjoy this! Which road impresses you the most?
I want to know if Buzz has been through some of the Chinese roads!
Yes, I have been on a few roads in China that hug the sides of mountains with a very deep drop on the other side - no railings or any kind of guard on the side - and sometimes only one lane wide, causing a driver to back up on those scary winding roads. However, the drivers of the cars I was in all seemed quite comfortable and able to manage those roads even at higher speeds, while my heart was in my mouth.
As you know, I always like to refer to classic movies in my comments - so if anyone has seen the classic French movie "The Wages of Fear" they would get the feeling of being on one of those roads. The difference may be that in the movie the trucks were carrying nitroglycerin and every once in a while you would see a flash at the horizon - another truck gone.
Tough movie to find, even I don't have a copy of it. (I do remember watching in on TV when I was very young though, it was that intense a movie)
I don't remember the movie, but I do remember some movie, or TV show, about truckers carrying dangerous loads on bad roads... Wish I could remember more!
That was Brian Keith carrying explosive rocket fuel over the back roads of California/Nevada for the Air Force.
Titled " The Violent Road " from 1958. Excellent movie for a hollywood "B" classic.
" The Wages of Fear " from 1953 (french) was the first of these such movies, the taut action thriller but based almost entirely upon character development for their tension. Excellent genre movie.
" Sorcerer " (1977) is another of the genre, actually a remake of "Wages of Fear" some like it more than the original.
Wow! Thanks!!! I need to see if I can find all of these, to watch them again-- if I can stand the suspense...
Amazon has Violent Road as well as Sorcerer, like I said the difficult one is Wages of Fear.
Even their names sound scary! I think the largest challenge would be to have bandits shooting at you!
Wow, Buzz!
Some of those roads must be like kissing death... It's like at the Indian village, made of adobe, that people climbed sticks. I would have fallen, badly, for sure-- and I'm also sure they were quite used to them and could go up and down like mountain goats. Sure-footed!
I was just curious, and the countryside is certainly gorgeous! Thanks!!!
I guess that drag racing is out of the question on these roads.
Amazing photo series, Dowser.
Especially the unpaved roads!
Holy cow-- some of these roads are a looong way down!
Some of us see these roads and all we can think is "I wonder how fast I can drive that"?
Isle of Man TT
What a trip!
Wow! I have to ask-- did they live?
I will definitely show this to my husband, who raced motorcross as a teenager, until he broke his left side-- left femur, pelvis, back, shoulder blade, all the ribs on his left side, collarbone, and shoulder... He was a mess, and not supposed to be able to walk again, but learned how, and actually walks very fast and quite well! I can't keep up with him!
I love the music to the video! At least the road is paved... And the scenery is spectacular! Isle of Man, is that near England?
The Isle of Man is in the Irish Sea, and the races there have cost many their lives. It is considered by many to be the most dangerous race course in the world.
Thanks! My geography lessons were incomplete... They surely look dangerous! That poor guy, falling off the side of the road, I just wonder if he lived or died. I bet he broke just about everything...
I LOVE WATCHING THIS STUFF!!!!!! It scares me to death but I can't get enough. These guys are incredible. I love watching the X games too. YEAH BABY!!!!!!!!!
Same here!
Lombard St. San Francisco.
Oh my gosh! That's very dangerous! I wouldn't want to live in one of those houses, either...
The loneliest road in American US 50 through Nevada.
Don't run out of gas or breakdown, your options are limited as in none.
The word, "Godforsaken" comes to mind... Sure hope everyone makes it through safely! Is there cellphone service out there?
Cell phone service is really spotty, Dowser.
NOT good news! And their doesn't seem to be anything much around to burn, to send up smoke as a signal... Not good, at all!
Great photos of roads that are certainly for the adventuresome. I love riding or driving on twisty, switchback laden mountain roads but some of these are a little too daunting for me.
Personal favorites include Hwy 129/Tail of the Dragon at Deal Gap in North Carolina, Iron Mountain Road in South Dakota (both as passenger on motorcycle) and the most beautiful (below) was Kahekili Hwy 340 on Maui!
Wow! I'm not going on that road, for sure!
It was all I could do to navigate those old logging roads, back in the day... At least there, there were a lot of trees to block your fall from the precipice!