https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungas_...
The Yungas Road is a cycle route about 60 km long that links the city of La Paz and the Yungas region of Bolivia. It draws about 25,000 tourists per year[1] and is a major La Paz tourist attraction.[2] Many tour operators cater to downhill mountain biking, providing information, guides, transport and equipment. At least 18 cyclists have died on the road since 1998.[1] The tourist route is a 64 km-long road with 3500 metres of descent.[3]
The route includes the Cotapata-Santa Bárbara section. It replaced the old road, built in 1930. It was considered dangerous[1] because of its steep slopes, narrow single track, lack of guardrails, rain, and fog, and was nicknamed the "Road of Death". However, it was not the most dangerous road in the region.[4] Unlike the rest of the country, traffic was left-hand, to allow the driver to assess the distance of their outer wheel from the edge of the road.[5]
A new alternative route, now part of Route 3, was built during a 20-year period ending in 2006. The modernization included enlarging the carriageway from one to two lanes; asphalt paving; bridges, drainage, guardrails, and the building of a new section between Chusquipata and Yolosa, bypassing the most dangerous sections of the original road.
https://www.dangerousroads.org/south-...
Death Road is a lethal journey in the Bolivian Yungas region
Carretera de los Yungas was, probably, the most famous road in the world as well as the most dangerous. This gravel dirt track covers a 69-kilometer (43 mi) stretch between La Paz and Coroico, in the Yungas region of Bolivia.
To be fair, it’s technically not considered the “World’s Most Dangerous Road” anymore due to the construction of a new highway close by, which directs most traffic away from its path. It’s estimated that 200 to 300 people traveling on it died each year. The thin road climbs jungle-clad mountains to a height of 4,650m, winding and turning all the while with nauseatingly deep canyons below. If you get dizzy, then be sure to avoid this road at all costs.
Dozens of vehicles went off the road each year, and with vertical drops of up to 1000m over the edge, annual fatalities reached into the hundreds. While the rest of Bolivia drives on the right side, here vehicles drive on the left. A driver on the left has a better view of the edge of the road. Furthermore, descending vehicles never have the right of way and must move to the outer edge of the road. These forces fast vehicles to stop so that passing can be negotiated safely. It was the black widow of roads and notorious for being the most treacherous stretch of road in the world as threats of landslides and the 1000-meter cliff faces pose serious danger while traveling its slick and rocky path.
The former world’s most dangerous highway (alternatively known as Death Road, Grove's Road, Coroico Road, Camino de las Yungas, El Camino de la Muerte, Road of Death, Unduavi-Yolosa Highway) climbs up a famous Bolivian mountain pass, La Cumbre, at an elevation of 4,650 meters (15,260 ft) above the sea level. This road was legendary for its extreme danger. Based on the ratio of death per mile, on average, 26 vehicles plummet over the edge each year, claiming more than 100 lives. The estimation is that 200 to 300 travelers were killed yearly along the road. With these numbers, in 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank christened this highway "The Most Dangerous Road in the World”. It’s not hard to see why the road was so dangerous: It’s barely the width of one vehicle, with no guardrail to protect you from falls of up to 2,000 feet. Rain can make the road muddy and slippery, and rain or fog can reduce a driver to feeling blindfolded. The very good news about this dirt road is that you don’t have to take it. Back in the ’90s before an alternative and safer road was built, it was identified as the most extremely dangerous road in the world. The road is in dreadful condition and requires strong nerves to negotiate it. And just as a reminder that you’re not going on any regular road trip, some drivers pray before they begin their route.
The road was especially dangerous because is only 3 meters wide and was navigated by trucks and buses because its constant sheer drops of at least 600m without any barriers or guard rails, the extreme dust clouds from vehicles in the summer and fog all year round often reduced visibility to almost zero and the fog and the rain in the winter months that often washes away parts of the road, reduces visibility as well as causing mudslides and the loosening of rocks from the hillsides above. Without guard rails, most of the road is no wider than 3.2 metres (10 ft).
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