Bolivia's 'Death Road'
Bolivia's 'Death Road'
The Taroko Gorge Road was built in the 1950’s by Nationalist army soldiers to connect west to east Taiwan through the central range, which was made by carving rocks out of the mountain pass. The word ‘taroko’ means ‘magnificent and splendid’ in the language of the aboriginal Truku tribe; a name that perfectly expresses the stunning views the road offers.
While there are some amazing sights to see on your journey, the road also has a fearsome reputation due to it being at the mercy of the elements. During typhoons the area suffers a severe set of geological hazards. Rock falls and landslides are not uncommon along the gorge, and flooding occurs widely both as a result of the increased discharge of the river and as a result of water cascading onto the road from the adjacent cliffs. Blind spots are everywhere and turning a corner can be a hair-raising experience if another vehicle is coming towards you.
Referred to as the ‘killer highway’, the Commonwealth Avenue in Manila stretches for 12.4km. This road has earned its notoriety as one of the world’s most dangerous roads not for its structure, but for the almost non-existent traffic laws. The lack of regulations on the roads leads to hundreds of pedestrian, cyclist and motor vehicle accidents every year.
Much like Commonwealth Avenue, the N2 Settlers Freeway has gained its dangerous reputation not from the road itself, but the drivers who use it. More people are killed on this road than any other in the country. The N2 road in South Africa runs from Cape Town through Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban to Ermelo. 90 people per year are killed on average on the stretch between East London to Mthatha, and with hijacking a significant problem in South Africa, even if you do leave this road with your life, you may not leave it with your car!
This road is extremely dangerous during the ten month long winter, because of poor weather conditions which include heavy snow, ice, and an extremely reduced visibility. But in summer, the conditions of the road are no less extreme – mud takes over. Due to permafrost there is no asphalt, which means a mud induced traffic jam every time the summer rains arrive. Being the only road in the area, locals have no choice but to use it. The Lena Highway stretch of the road is known locally as ‘bone’s road’. It was constructed in the Stalin era of the USSR; the first stretch was built by the inmates of the Sevvostlaglabor camp in 1932. The construction continued (by inmates of gulag camps) until 1953. The road is treated as a memorial, because the bones of the people who died while constructing it were laid beneath or around the road.
Until 1972, the Guoliang village was cut off from the rest of the world as it was inaccessible, sat on a cliff 1700 metres high. In 1972, the residents managed to construct a road which would allow them to more easily connect with others; this road is now known as the Guoliang Tunnel. Although it doesn’t see much traffic, due to its construction it is inherently fairly dangerous. Several villagers died during construction of the road, which was carved out using nothing but hand tools and steely determination. As a result, this DIY mountain tunnel is obviously not the pillar of safety. In many spots of the tunnel, roughly carved pillars are the only thing keeping you from plunging to your death. The twists and turns of the road also mean that blind spots are everywhere, and turning the corner to find another vehicle coming towards you adds to the fear factor of this road.
Zoji La is a high mountain pass in Kashmir, located on the Indian National Highway 1D between Srinagar and Leh in the western section of the Himalayan mountain range. As with many of the Himalayan roads, this one is extremely hazardous. It is characterised by dangerously narrow and often muddy or icy gravel laden roads which are littered with crashed cars and overturned buses. One of the factors that contribute to Zoji La’s status as one of the world’s most dangerous roads is the changeability of road conditions. The road is usually open for only about four and a half months in a year due to the risk of avalanches, heavy snowfalls and frequent patches of ice. Conditions can change quickly and are extremely harsh.
Nicknamed ‘Rodovia da Morte’ (The Highway of Death) by locals, the BR-116 is the second longest highway in Brazil running from Fortaleza all the way to Jaguarão and is responsible for thousands of road deaths each year. The cliff section leading up Sao Paolo is notoriously dangerous, mostly due to poor weather conditions coupled with the fact that the winding roads run breathtakingly close to the mountain’s edge. However, a journey on the BR-116 is not a treacherous experience solely because of weather conditions; it is not uncommon for drivers to be attacked by gangs and armed bandits.
Pakistan’s picturesque Fairy Meadows Road, leading to the base of the Nanga Parbat Mountain has been ranked as the second deadliest highway in an interactive map released recently. The gravel road has not undergone any repair since it was built by the ethnic villagers of the Nanga Parbat Mountain hundreds of years ago which makes it one of the most dangerous roads on this list. The road was built by the local people, and is therefore a private toll road. It’s steep and just the width of a jeep, with unstable gravel the road is hacked out of the barren hills. The World Health Organisation (WHO) named Fairy Meadows Road the second deadliest road in the world on account of its ‘treacherous high altitude, unstable and narrow mountain roads.’ Fairy Meadows scored a 9 on the WHO’s ‘fear factor’ scale, in comparison with 10 from Bolivia’s Death Road.
The North Yungas Road, also known as the Death Road, is situated near La Paz in Bolivia and climbs up a famous Bolivian mountain pass, La Cumbre, at an elevation of 4,650 metres (15,260 ft) above sea level to connect the city with Coroico. Paraguayan prisoners of war built the highway in the 1930s when the two countries were at war, and it earned its notoriety in 1995. It was this year that the Inter-American Development Bank christened it the ‘world’s most dangerous road’ after estimating that the road claimed between 200 and 300 deaths a year.
The road has since become a staple on any thrill seeking backpacker’s to-do list when travelling through Bolivia, as many companies now offer the chance to cycle down the road. Whilst there has been a new road which succeeded in diverting most of the traffic off the Yungas road, there is still the odd car or truck vying for space on the often single lane dirt track, to avoid the 600m vertical drop.
