The Death Road

                                                            The Death Road

The North Yungas Road in Bolivia is  the " world's most dangerous road ".Due to  its extreme danger ,it is known as Road of fate or Death Road,Grove's Road, Coroico Road, Camino de las Yungas.This gravel dirt track covers a 69km (43 mi) stretch between La Paz and Coroico, in the Yungas region of Bolivia. 

The North Yungas Road climbs up a famous Bolivian mountain pass, La Cumbre, at an elevation of 4,650 metres (15,260 ft) above the sea level. This road is legendary for its extreme danger. Based on the ratio of death per mile, on an average, 26 vehicles plummet over the edge each year, claiming more than 100 lives.

 The estimation is that 200 to 300 travellers 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”.

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. Also, vehicles drive on the left, as opposed to the right like the rest of Bolivia. This gives the driver in a left-hand-drive vehicle a better view over their outside wheel, making passing safer.

The road, that connects the Amazon rainforest region of northern Bolivia, or Yungas, to its capital city, includes macabre crosses marking many of the spots where vehicles have fallen. Some of the most important accidents happened on 24 July 1983, when 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 and in December 1999, after 8 Israeli travelers were killed in a jeep accident on that road. 

The road is specially dangerous because is only 3 metres wide and is 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 reduce 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). The surface is often muddy, with loosen rocks from the road and rain, fog and dust can reduce visibility. 

The dangerousness gave this road great notoriety and entice people seeking their adrenaline lined hearts. Between buses, cars, trucks, and even bicycles, it seems that nobody is deemed safe on this stretch of continuous downhill riding with only one short uphill section.

 Starting in 1990’s, the road is now a popular tourist destination . But the road has no mercy. At least 20 cyclists died on the ride since 1998.  Carretera de los Yungas now has become a true business. There are now many tour operators catering to this activity, providing information, guides, transport, and equipment.

 The Death Road elevation profile starts in Nuestra Señora de La Paz at an elevation of roughly 3,650 m (11,975 ft) above the sea level. After a sharply winding and precipitous ascent in a a steep and narrow zig-zag road in, the road then climbs up to around 4,650 metres (15,260 ft) at La Cumbre Pass. Finally, it goes down to the town of Coroico at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).

The danger of the road made it a popular tourist destination starting in the 1990s .Mountain biking enthusiasts in particular have made it a favourite destination for downhill biking since there is a 64-kilometre (40 mi) stretch of continuous downhill riding with only one short uphill section.

There are now many tour operators catering to this activity, providing information, guides, transport, and equipment.

Nevertheless, the Yungas Road remains dangerous. At least 18 cyclists have died on the ride since 1998.

The road was built in the 1930s during the Chaco War by Paraguayan prisoners.The Yungas Road was modernized during a 20 year period ending in 2006. 

The modernization included enlarging the carriageway from one to two lanes, constructing asphalt pavement, and building a new section between Chusquipata and Yolosa, bypassing to the north one of the most dangerous sections of the old 'Death Road'.The original North Yungas Road is currently much less used by traffic, although an increasing number of adventure travelers bike it for the thrills.