19 Most Complex & Dangerous Roads in the World

by **ஜனனி** Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:23 pm

19
Most Complex & Dangerous Roads in the World

1) Col de Turini, France:

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Situated
more than 1 mile above sea level, Col de Turini is a mountain pass
situated in south of France in the Alps. It's also part of a 20 miles
rally stage of the Monte Carlo Rally of WRC, which combines 34
challenging hairpins and long stretches where cars top 111 mph.

It is one of the most exciting roads on Earth. The pass was featured
in the very first episode of Top Gear series 10, when the presenters
went in search of the greatest driving road
in the world. At its highest point, Col de Turini is 1607m high. In the
north, the Col de Turini starts with a dazzling series of hairpins.
Finally, we end up riding in a gorge, with a wild river on the left, and
a steep rock-wall on the right.

2) Stelvio Pass, Italy:

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Located in the Eastern Alps in
Italy, the Stelvio Pass Road connects the Valtellina with Merano and the
upper Adige valley. This mountain road pass is situated at an altitude
of around 1.7 miles above sea level. The road is particularly
challenging to drive due to the presence of 48 hairpin bends, with the
road becoming exceedingly narrow at some points, and some very steep
inclines. With a height of 2757 meters, it is the highest paved mountain
pass in the Eastern Alps and the second highest in the Alps, after the
2770 m high Col de lIseran. While it might not be as dangerous as the
other routes, it is certainly breathtaking. The toughest and most
spectacular drives are from the Prato side. The mountain pass is one of
the best continuous hairpin routes in the world.

3) Leh Manali Highway, India:

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The Leh-Manali Highway is situated in India
and spans over a length of 297 miles among the Himalaya mountain range.
It passes through some of the worlds highest mountain passes in the
world, with a mean altitude in between 2 to 3 miles above sea level. The
road is one of the most complicated and challenging roads in the world,
with snow, landslides and terrain making the journey exceedingly
difficult for anything other than a capable four wheel drive vehicle.
The road was built and is maintained by the Indian
Army.

4) The Puxi Viaduct, Shanghai:

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This is one of Shanghai's busiest and largest interchange that caters to
thousands of vehicles every hour. It has five levels of bridges that
help connect two of the cities busiest highways, directing vehicles
without much fuss.

5) The Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, LA:

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The Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange is situated in Los Angeles,
CA and is one of the most complicated interchanges in the country. It
permits entry and exit in all directions between the I-105 and the
I-110. It's a stack interchange with layers of bridges making a
complicated network of roads allowing smooth flow of traffic though both
the interstate highways. This interchange was opened in 1993. It is a 4
level interchange with a restricted access lane that can be used by
high-occupancy vehicles.

6) The Road of death, Bolivia:

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The North Yungas Road (also known as the El
Camino de la Muerte, Road of Death in Spanish) is a 43 mile road
connecting La Paz and Coroico, 35 miles northeast of La Paz in Bolivia.
Famous for its extreme danger, it was christened as the world most
dangerous road in 1995 by the Inter-American Development Bank. The
single-lane width, extreme drop offs, and lack of guardrails, only add
to the danger lurking behind. Further, the fog and rain can make
visibility poor and the road surface muddy, loosening rocks from the
hillsides above. It is estimated that 200 to 300 travelers are killed
per year on this treacherous road. Although, the old North Yungas Road
is much less used by traffic nowadays, an increasing number of adventure
bikers travel it for the thrills.

7) Russia's Lena Highway,
the Highway from Hell:

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The last 600 miles of the Russian Federal Highway from Moscow
city to the Siberian city of Yakutsk is called the Lena Highway. This
bizarre road runs parallel to the River Lena on the final leg to
Yakutsk. As if the road of mud was not a big problem, Yakutsk is
considered one of the the coldest cities on earth, with January
temperatures averaging -45 Â°F. But surprisingly, it is only in the
summertime that the road becomes impassable. Whenever it rains in
summer, the road virtually becomes a slush pit making it impossible for
the vehicles to pass through it. This being the only road to Yakutsk
makes the traffic heavy and even more complicated to negotiate.

8. Gravelly Hill Interchange, Birmingham, UK:

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Gravelly Hill Interchange, nicknamed the Spaghetti Junction, is
the 6th junction of the M6 motorway, where it joins the A38 Aston
Expressway in Birmingham, UK. The name Spaghetti Junction was coined by
Roy Smith, a journalist from the Birmingham Evening Mail in the 1970s.
The areal view of the junction sure tells us why it is called the
Spaghetti Junction.

Spanning an impressive 30 acres, the junction serves 18 routes and
includes 4 km of slip roads. Across 6 different levels, there are 559
concrete columns, reaching up to 24.4 m in height. The
engineers had to elevate 13.5 miles of the motorway to accommodate 2
railway lines, 3 canals, and 2 rivers. It's the most complicated
junction in United Kingdom.

9) Russian-Georgian Military
Mountain Roads:

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When they are not covered in sheets of snow, then it's the thick,
grueling mud. These remote highways would probably swallow your car in
the snow or mud. Though neither affect the locals who drive their Lada
cars down it regularly. Situated in the Caucasus mountains, these roads
are to be tackled only by the Russian military which probably explain
why they lack any official designation. The harsh surface, along with
the problems posed by snow, makes this road almost inaccessible during
winter.

The seldom used road connects Russia and Georgia and assumes of
strategic importance for both countries.

10) Guoliang Tunnel
Road, China:

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The magnificent tunnel road in the Taihang mountains was built by
13 local villagers headed by their chief, Shen Mingxin, and took around
five years to finish. Many villagers lost their lives in accidents
during construction of the tunnel but the others continued relentlessly.
The tunnel was opened to traffic on May 1st, 1977. The 1200 meter long
tunnel is about 5 meters high and 4 meters wide. It is located in the
Henan Province of China. The Guoliang tunnel is another addition to most
dangerous and complicated roads to travel. Dubbed as the road that does
not tolerate any mistakes, most accidents in the tunnel are primarily
caused by the neglect of the traveler. Nonetheless, it is an extremely
scenic route and is a key destination on the Chinese tourism map.

11) Taroko Gorge Road in Taiwan (Chungheng):

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The
Taroko Gorge Road in Taiwan is another mountain route made by carving
out rocks, like the Guoliang Tunnel road. The road passes through the
Taroko national park alongside the Taroko Gorge. The road is an appeal
to the tourist, as well as
a mode of transportation of marble found abundantly in the Gorge.

12)
Pasubio (Vicenza), Northern Italy:

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This
is a hiking trail made out
of an ancient road trail. The road serves mostly for motorcycles and
certain types of car. The road is dangerously narrow and slippery,
spanning many cliff faces and tunnels with stunning scenery, making this
a popular destination for adventurous travelers.

13) The Halsema Highway in the Philippines:

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The Halsema Highway runs through the Central Cordillera Valley in
Philippines. It is also called the Baguio-Bontoc Road. The road is
approximately 150 miles long and is mostly unpaved. The road runs
through steep cliff faces which barely have any guard rails or other
safety devices installed. The narrow roads and steep cliff faces make
the road almost impassable during the rainy season. It's known for
the rock slides and mud slides and buses driving dangerously fast on
its narrow passage. There are plenty of accidents and many overturned
buses on a yearly basis. There are sheer drop offs of more than 1000
feet without a safety guard rail. This route is for sure one of the most
dangerous roads in the world.

14) Trollstigen in Norway:

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The Fjord in Norway has many roads
that attract tourists. The most notable among them is the Trollstigen
which is a series of stunning roads with a breathtaking view of a few
waterfalls. The word Trollstigen means the Troll Ladder. The road,
though not lacking in safety standards, takes a lot of concentration and
driving skill to conquer. The vertigo-inducing steep inclines, intense
set of hairpins and narrow roads leave no margin for error. However,
once you are at the top, the view is just breathtaking. The narrow road
leaves us with extremely few possibilities for vehicles to pass each
other. The frequent rockfalls in the region have resulted in some
upgrades to the road in 2005. At the top, there is a viewing balcony
which overlooks the
road and the Stigfossen waterfall, a 320 m long waterfall which falls
down the mountain side.

15) Los Caracoles Pass in Andes:

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This

road passes though the Andreas Mountains on the way between Chile and
Argentina. Los Caracoles is a series of hard switchbacks on an extremely
steep incline. The road has many steep inclines and hairpins without
any safety guard rails. The road is covered with snow for the most part
of the year. The snow together with nature of the road requires extreme
patience and skill to negotiate. However, this road is maintained pretty
regularly and does not have a morbid accident record. Cargo trucks and
even double-Decker tourist buses travel through the road on a daily
basis, and it's quite an experience.

16) Iroha-zaka winding road, Japan:

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Iroha-zaka winding road is the main route that connects central Nikko
and Oku-Nikko. The First Iroha-zaka is used to come down, and the Second
Iroha-zaka to go up. Each corner has an ancient Japanese alphabet, and
you will see it in alphabetical order starting from I-ro-ha and hence
the name. The road was used by ascetics in the past. The number of
curves on the road was 48, matching the 48 letters of the ancient
Japanese alphabet. Therefore, the tourist guides started to call the
slope Iroha-zaka. After the construction of the second Iroha-zaka there
were 50 curves, but 2 were decreased to remain corresponding with the 48
letters. How's that for complicated?

17) Van Zyls Pass, Namibia:

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Van Zyls Pass, or the DR3703, located in Namibia, is a
classic extreme road. It is not exactly a road, just a route made over
the mountain by the travelers over time. The outrageously steep pass
provides a pure adrenaline rush, but the route that leads up to it is a
10-15km of tough driving where one has to dodge their way through rocks,
boulders, badlands and ravines. At the end, the road descends to the
ancient glacial valley called Marienfluss valley, which is one of the
planet's most beautiful sights that await only the brave-hearted.

18) El Espinazo Del diablo, Mexico:

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El Espinazo Del diablo or The devils backbone is the
mountain pass in Durango, Mexico. It's about 5 hours long, and it was
the only road from Durango to Mazatlan Sinaloa for a long time. We have
heard many cautionary tales about crossing the devils backbone, El
Espinoza Del Diablo, But the road is exceptionally well maintained and
there are many cautionary signs marking most of the hazards. Of course
these are in Spanish, so keep an electronic translator or a dictionary,
handy. Pull out spots are frequent, so you can easily stop anytime you
want.
There are some tight curves, too. So tight that a truck needs all of the
road to make it around. These hinder potential two way traffic in these
regions. However, stunning rock formations rising around you and the
lush, green vistas stretching on for impossible
distances make every inch of the drive breathtaking.

19)
Lysebotn Road, Norway:

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