World's Scariest Roads II
Taroko Gorge Road in Taiwan (Chungheng)
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.
Pasubio (Vicenza), Northern Italy
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.
The Halsema Highway in the Philippines
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.
Trollstigen in Norway
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.
Lysebotn Road, Norway
This is probably the most fun you can have on four wheels, and then on your two legs checking out various hiking trails leading from the area. In fact, this just might be the most breathtaking place in Europe (on par with Swiss Interlaken area). It all starts with the narrow road up the fjord's steep walls.
This is the Lysebotn Road in Lysefjord, Norway - complete with 27 switchbacks and a 1.1 kilometer long tunnel at the bottom, also with three switchbacks inside. This is the view 900 meters down, once you get on top. So it only make sense to continue further - and hike to the most spectacular piece of rock in the Universe - Prekestolen, or the Pulpit Rock.
Iroha-zaka winding road, Japan
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?
Van Zyls Pass, Namibia
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.
El Espinazo Del diablo, Mexico
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
The Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, LA1
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.
Gravelly Hill Interchange, Birmingham, UK
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.
The Puxi Viaduct, Shanghai
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.
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