If I modeled this, people would say it looks too fake. It is real and in Bolivia. Talk about straight cliff sides.
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A tractor coming round the corner would not be what you’d want to see. I wonder how far back you’d have to reverse to find a passing place? Ian
Art,
That shot where you can see the mirror on the car gives a real perspective of the precarious perch - it would have made me wish I’d brought along a change of pants.
I get shaky up on a chair reaching for the marmalade.
That does not look like a fun drive!
One wrong turn and you join the birds! (if only for a little while)
Lemme guess. There’s a toll gate somewhere along there?
[:)]
Or maybe not. Otto Mears put his toll gate in the tightest part of the Million Dollar Highway between Silverton and Ouray. It’s hard to beat the gate when it’s pretty much straight up and down. It was not quite that bad on US 550 as it appears to be in Bolivia, but still nothing you’d want to mess with, even if your “Rocky Mountain canary” AKA burro was surefooted.
In the same area in Colorado is the road up to the Camp Bird Mine and Imogene Pass that lies in between Ouray and Telluride. Part of it has similar undercut overhangs for the road there, but it’s nowhere near as dramatic as this Bolivian highway.
BTW, what road in Bolivia is it? No plans to travel, but you never know. I’d sure like to drive that road if I was anywhere near it. Notice I said “drive” as I’m not sure I’d trust anyone else with getting me over that. Same reason I don’t like flying in big planes. You can’t see what those folks are up to in front!
Two more for the road
WOW!!! That is all I can say at the time Would make me nervious to walk that road, I do not like hights! WOW!!! Mike
DUDE!!!
That’s insane! Passing!
Not this boy!
I know the difference between stupidity and insanity. Stupidity is being on that road. Insanity is trying to pass on it!
Not a road I’d like to take my car on…I can manuever my land yacht through some fairly tight places…But I’d never attempt anything like that. It’d be my luck I’d meet face to face with a rig.
Now…In all honesty Art…I can’t tell whether or not those last two pictures are real…There’s something about them that just look toy like to me…It might be the lighting and quality of the photo…But something doesn’t look right…
I had to stop looking cause i got Dizzy
I have heard of this road. From what I learned about some huge amount of deaths occur on the road each year. It took over sixty years to complete the road and the final sections were completed in the late 80’s.
IIRC, the National Geographic channel just did a special on that road–“The Death Road”–if not this one, another one in South America just like it.
Several corners are so sharp they have stationed flagmen to direct traffic[xx(].
There are some “roads” almost that bad in southern Utah’s Canyonlands country. After one trip in a truck I vowed never again and rode my dirt bike the next time - I could stay farther from the edge. KL
Yup… you ain’t kidding about that. There’s also some tight and narrow stretches between Yellowstone NP and Cody, Wyoming. You really don’t want to be driving it after dark, or with any sort of wear on your tires.
Respects,
Hmph.
Wait until you see some of the roads out west.
But, that is pretty impressive. I would not want to do that everyday for a living.
When my father worked in the mines in Peru back in the late 50’s, we quickly got used to roads of this nature, although I admit that this one is a bit extreme. I think I would have a coronary if I were exposed to it today.
You think they can mine into the rock creating pillars as needed to widen and improve that road.
There were a few places underground in the USA built out of limestone that had pillars left every 70 feet or so to hold up the earth.
Whatever this road connects, I hope it’s worth the trip both ways and down.
Yup, there was a show about this road just the other week on TV. I watched most of it. Something along the lines of having the most deaths per mile of road average or some such. The TV show took you “in the car” over the highway. Just shows once again that truth is stranger than fiction.
Now I understand why the Bolivians fly foodstuffs (especially meat) into La Paz. If they had to ship it over that road, they’d all starve!
I’ve seen similar undercut and ‘portal-sided’ roads (and rail lines) elsewhere. At least the ones in Japan are two lanes wide!)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
That road looks like a lot of fun!!!
I’ve been a passenger on the road between Yellowstone and Cody countless times (grew up in Wyoming, and lived in Cody for two years as a kid), and driven it quite a bit, too. It’s much wider now than it used to be, but it was always a fun road travel.