10 Most Dangerous Roads in the World

Have you ever driven on a road that was...not the best? You know the kind I mean: the kind where you have to white-knuckle your way through the drive. I’m talking unpaved, narrow, winding, full of blind turns, prone to rock falls or floods. Usually they’re backcountry or mountain roads, but they can be highways or badly-planned city roads too. Wherever they are, driving on them can be nerve-wracking. So, unless you’re a very special kind of crazy, you’re definitely going to want to avoid the roads on this list:

#10 Commonwealth Ave (Philippines)

We’re starting off this list with a road that’s not out of the way or even winding. In fact, it’s an 18-lane highway in Quezon City in the Philippines. So how does this highway make a Dangerous Roads list? Well 18 lanes, a lack of regulations, a huge amount of traffic, pedestrians and motorcycles (that big buses can’t see) combine to make this road so prone to accidents it sees hundreds each year. It’s even known locally as the “Killer Highway.”

#9 Karakoram Highway (Pakistan)

Following the old Silk Road, this highway actually connects Pakistan and China while simultaneously passing through some spectacular landscapes and gorges. These landscapes, though, are exactly what makes it so dangerous. The road is still unpaved in some places and prone to landslides and floods. It also goes through the Khunjerab Pass to connect the two countries, adding a winding, narrow, mountainous road to the already questionable mix. Throw in some trucks and you can see how it got its place on this list.

#8 BR-116 “Highway of Death” (Brazil)

Another highway makes the list, this time in Brazil. While the BR-116 is decently maintained, the weather and terrain along its 2,725 miles can be unpredictable, with the highway sometimes winding along cliffs and around blind turns. The fact that it is often packed with big rigs doesn’t help matters, but there’s one more factor that makes this road so dangerous. You see, along the way the BR-116 passes through some of the poorest sections of Brazil. Since it’s such a heavy trucking route and police patrols are rare, armed bandits and gangs will often set up ambushes there. So, not only do you have to watch out for natural hazards, but you have to worry about getting robbed.

#7 Zoji Pass (India)

Connecting Kashmir and Ladakh, this roughly 9 kilometer one-lane road winds its way through the Western Himalayas. There are no road signs or guardrails and landslides are common. It’s also literally on the edge of a mountain! Reaching around 11,574 feet at its highest, this road is not for the faint of heart, as there’s nothing between you and a sheer drop! To make matters worse, it’s narrow and unpaved, and completely blocked in the winter thanks to 50ft snowdrifts.

There are some pretty harrowing videos of driving this road, including this one where they literally have to dig more road. No, thank you!

#6 Sichuan-Tibet Highway (China)

This long, switchbacking road wends its way through the mountains of western China, connecting Chengdu in Sichuan with Lhasa, Tibet. Lined with Buddhist monasteries along the way, this road goes so high it’s known to cause altitude sickness in drivers who aren’t acclimatized. It’s got 99 sharp turns along one 38 kilometer stretch, and it’s prone to landslides and avalanches. It’s also unpaved, making it a quagmire in the rainy season, sometimes getting drivers stuck for weeks. Add the fact that winter conditions along this route can last more than 10 months and you have a treacherous, if majestic, drive!

If you want to know more about the Sichuan-Tibet highway, it’s worth reading this article from the BBC.

#5 Stelvio Pass (Italy)

Settled high up in the Eastern Alps, this is the second highest roadway of that mountain range. The views are gorgeous, but it’s hard to see them when you’re busy navigating 180 degree turns with only a very low barrier to stop your car from going over the edge. The sharp turning climb through the distracting scenery is the main danger of this mountain highway, especially when winter ads ice to the hairpin turns. If you want to enjoy the scenery, get someone else to drive!

#4 James Dalton Highway (USA)

This 414 mile road in Alaska was originally built to be a supply line for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and it is one of the most isolated roads in the world. It’s also sitting up in the Arctic Circle so not only is it isolated but it’s cold. There are no gas stations, hotels, rest stops, or other basic services along this road. In fact, there are only 3 villages along it’s 666 kilometer stretch. Conditions get so harsh, especially in the winter, that it’s recommended you pack survival supplies if you’re planning a drive there. This road was made for trucks and that’s still mostly what you’ll see out there. It’s such a dangerous road, they even made a tv show about it that you may have heard of: Ice Road Truckers.

As you can see in this video, driving this road can get pretty scary.

#3 Guoliang Tunnel Road (China)

Connecting the village of Guoliang to the outside world, this road was actually constructed by the villagers themselves. Guoliang is situated in the heart of a valley, with towering peaks on all sides, and before they made this road there was only a small path providing any access to the village. 13 villagers carved this road, by hand, into the side of the mountain after they got sick of the government refusing to provide one. The main danger of this road is the tunnel itself. It’s only 15 feet high and 12 feet wide, leaving just enough room for one car in relative comfort, so of course it sports two-way traffic. Winding its narrow way through the side of the mountain, with the occasional “window” for light, it’s become quite the tourist attraction!

You can find several videos of driving through the tunnel, and they are very claustrophobic!

#2 Fairy Meadows Road (Pakistan)

This road was built hundreds of years ago by the ethnic villagers of the Nanga Parbat Mountain region of Pakistan, and it hasn’t had any maintenance since. Yes, you read that right: hundreds of years without maintenance. This being the case, you can bet it’s not paved. In fact, it’s barely wide enough for one vehicle at a time and highly unstable. As with most mountainous roads on this list, there is nothing between you and a several hundred meter fall. It’s a twisty, narrow, uneven, high-altitude mountain lane that’s only open in the summer months and that gets so bad you actually can’t drive the full length. The last bit of road is so narrow and congested you have to finish your trip to Fairy Meadows by bike or on foot. Fun fact: in 2013, this road was rated the second deadliest in the world by the WHO.

#1 Yungas Road (Bolivia)

This is the WHO’s official deadliest road in the world, and it’s easy to see why. Cutting through the Amazon rainforest, it crosses the Cordillera Oriental mountain range to connect Bolivia’s capital with the lowland city of Yungas. This unpaved, one-lane road features drops of up to 6,000 feet and over 200 hairpin turns along its 40 miles. There are no guardrails. The sides of the road are littered with makeshift memorials to people who plunged to the rainforest below. While the most dangerous stretch has been bypassed, it’s still frequented by local trucks, buses and adventure cyclists, many of whom contribute to the “Road of Death’s” 200-300 a year body count.

You can watch a segment about this infamous road by BBC’s Top Gear here.

Honorable Mentions:

While the following roads didn’t make the list proper, they’re still extreme enough to be worth noting.

Atlantic Ocean Road (Norway)

Spanning an archipelago in Norway, this road literally stretches over sections of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes, the ocean decides to stretch over sections of the road.

Cotopaxi Volcano Road (Ecuador)

Connecting the Pan American highway with the Cotopaxi National Park, this dirt road crosses a stream prone to flash flooding all in very close proximity to an active volcano.