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Yungas Road
The Yungas Road, as seen from Coroico. The
North Yungas Road (also Grove's Road, Coroico Road, Camino de las Yungas,
El Camino de la Muerte, Road of Death, and Death Road) is a 38 to 43 mile
road (depending on source) leading from La Paz to Coroico, 35 miles (56
km) northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia. It is legendary
for its extreme danger and in 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank
christened it as the "world's most dangerous road" [1]. One estimate is
that 200-300 travelers are killed yearly along the road [2]. The road
moreover includes Christian crosses marking many of the spots where such
vehicles have fallen. Upon leaving La Paz, the road first ascends up to
around 5km, before descending to 1079 ft (330 m), transitioning quickly
from cool altiplano terrain to rain forest as it winds through very steep
hillsides and atop cliffs.
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The road was built in the 1930s during the
Chaco War by Paraguayan prisoners. It is one of the few routes that
connects the Amazon rainforest region of northern Bolivia, or Yungas, to
its capital city. However, an alternative, much safer, road connecting La
Paz to Coroico is nearing completion.
Because of the extreme dropoffs, single-lane width, and lack of
guardrails, the road is extremely dangerous. Further still, rain and fog
can make visibility precarious, the road surface muddy, and loosen rocks
from the hillsides above. On July 24, 1983, a bus veered off the Yungas
Road and into a canyon, killing more than 100 passengers in what is said
to be Bolivia's worst road accident. One of the local road rules specifies
that the downhill driver never has the right of way and must move to the
outer edge of the road. This forces fast vehicles to stop so that passing
can be negotiated safely. The danger of the road ironically though has
made it a popular tourist destination starting in the 1990s. Mountain
biker enthusiasts, in particular, have made it a favorite destination for
downhill biking.
Photographs of China's Guoliang Tunnel are often incorrectly identified as
depicting Yungas Road. Yungas Road is also often incorrectly referred to
as Stremnaya Road.
A South Yungas Road (also Chulumani Road) exists that connects La Paz to
Chulumani, 40 miles (64 km) east of La Paz, and is considered to be nearly
as dangerous as the north road.
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| Guoliang Tunnel, China |
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From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
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