as of 2018 there are 102 million miles worth of roads in the world that have been cataloged and while the majority of those roads may be freshly paved and smoothed over there are plenty that Veer from the beaten path and require a sturdy vehicle and Driver to navigate but there are roads that are the heads that are lifts tight turns or the risk of avalanches and earthquakes the difficult to Traverse that they can claim the lives of those unfortunate enough to fall victim to them so let's begin today's video because here are the top 15
most extreme roads in the world number 15 Atlantic Ocean Road all right kicking off our list of extreme roads is the Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway but what makes the story of this perilous road so interesting is that while it may be one of the most dangerous in the world it's also been named one of the best scenic drives as well so if you're looking to do some sightseeing on the Atlantic Ocean roads then you would better buckle up this Norwegian road is home to the storage Bridge which is known as the bridge to nowhere
with an interesting approach that it looks like a ramp leading all the way up to the sky and when you reach the peak you would better not look down and so once you manage to get over your fear of heights this road will take drivers teetering all along the edge of the sea and that's where the real fun begins because while the waves of the Norwegian sea may be a gorgeous sight to behold you can lose a lot more than your lunch here as the brutality of the Waves as they crash over the road during
stormy weather conditions threaten to bring you back into the sea with you as it recedes into the depths number 14. kotahuasi Canyon Road the kotahuasi Canyon Road begins on the Pan-American Highway near the city of araquipa and much of this Canyon carved road is completely unpaved with rocks and Pebbles of various sizes often impeding the course not to mention those that can fall down the rock face at any given moment and things only get worse during the rainy season the road is so intense in fact that it takes about 10 to 12 hours to make
it from end to end meaning only the most stalwart of Travelers can make it to the other side and the only cars capable of making it across are those with four-wheel drive this is one of the roads that are too Infamous even for the likes of tourists and adventurers kotohasi Canyon is the third deepest canyon in the world and just to put it into perspective it's twice as deep as the American Grand Canyon that's a long way down kotahuasi Canyon Road is full of some of the most challenging and harrowing hairpin Curves in the world
and dangerous drop-offs don't think that you're gonna roll your window down on a hot day to catch a breeze because this extreme Road tops out at 15 000 feet above sea level where the air is nice and thin and catching a breath here is nearly as difficult as making the drive unscathed number 13 taroko Gorge Road located in Taiwan The taroko Gorge Road stretches for just under 12 miles and while it may be one rough ride it also offers some of the most beautiful scenery in the world the taroko Gorge Road is carved right out
and right through the mountains it winds through and despite the Perils of braving the road it's become a popular attraction for the bravest of tourists so don't be surprised to see a whole slew of tour buses cars scooters cyclists and even pedestrians all vying and fighting for their space on the same narrow Stone Road it's kind of scary to think about but people do it every day in spite of the narrow bends and blind spots throughout the road not only are there the narrow blind corners but the taroko Gorge Road is subject to no shortage
of random Rock Falls floods landslides and even earthquakes so making it across this 12 Mile Stretch in one piece is a true Miracle but all these natural occurrences make it incredibly difficult to keep the toroko Gorge Road in good condition with heavy rainfalls and typhoons ravaging the area and leaving sections of the road nearly in passable number 12 karakoram Highway taking Travelers on an 810 Mile Stretch between China and Pakistan the karakoram highway has been considered to be the eighth wonder of the world and while it's not hard to see why as the highway offers
some gorgeous views it's the perfect example of how some of the most beautiful things in nature are also the most deadly the karakoram highway reaches over fifteen thousand feet above sea level at its highest point where the air is nice and thin and your breath can quite literally be taken away and if that's not enough for you there are plenty of landslides Falling Rocks floods full-blown avalanches and plenty of steep Cliffs to fall from it's a pretty harrowing Journey despite it being such a popular Road in fact much of the karakoram highway even follows the
old Silk Road one of the most important trade routes in human history but the highway as we know it today was first built in 1959 and roughly a thousand workers were killed during the construction because of dynamite blasts and their subsequent landslides on another occasion 17 people were killed when their bus fell into a Gorge after the driver hit a sharp turn along the highway too fast and just a month before that unfortunate incident a tourist was killed when a landslide hit their van [Music] number 11. fairy Meadows Road don't let the name of this
road fool you because the ferry Meadows Road is anything but sweet located in Pakistan this amazing and dangerous mountain track goes on for just under 10 miles but the Perils of the journey will make it the longest 10 miles of your life fairy Meadows Road is mostly unstable gravel roads at a treacherous altitude that reaches up to about 8 000 feet and plenty of narrow turns that have met with too much speed and not enough care can smell the end of your trip yeah it's a gorgeous destination but paying a little too much attention to
the scenery could mean you'll notice a complete lack of guard rails a little too late and there's nothing to prevent a vehicle from falling off the cliff it is not for the faint of heart fairy Meadows Road starts from the karakorma highway and leads to the Village of tato and can accommodate a vehicle much larger than a Jeep and eventually it reaches a point so narrow that the rest of the harrowing Journey must be completed on foot number 10 99 Bend Road To Heaven we've all heard of The Stairway to Heaven but just wait until
you hear about the 99 Bend Road to Heaven located in China the 99 Bend Road to Heaven is a horrifying road that whips and winds its way through Tiananmen Mountain National Park and as its name would suggest this extreme Road features 99 death-defying hairpin turns constructed hundreds of feet in the air construction of the road took eight years to complete with the construction finally ending in 2006 but this is an interesting Road as it manages to combine culture and history with human Ingenuity to get to this road you first need to drive up to tongchang
Avenue or the Avenue towards heaven but the 99 curves of this extreme Road aren't random in fact they represent the nine palaces of heaven and by the time you make it to the top you'll certainly feel like you've ascended to the realm of divinity and Celestial beings but the icing on the cake is Heaven's Gate which is the natural rock Arch that was believed to be the link between the gods and the mortal world number nine gualian tunnel in the day the only way to reach the Chinese village of gualayang was to take the narrow
and treacherous path that was carved right into the side of the taehang mountains and while that may have been one hell of a scenic route the Trek was as long as it was arduous and one false step meant sudden doom and the local villagers weren't waiting for the help of the government to get things done a small group of people put their heads together and in 1972 they started to dig a tunnel because why go around the mountains when you could just go straight through them the group was small made of just 13 humble people
and while they wanted this tunnel dug during more modern times the people of guanyang didn't have access to things like excavators bulldozers or something seemingly as trivial as Dynamite so the only thing they could do was dig by hand yeah that's right it took 26 hands five years to dig a tunnel about three quarters of a mile long 16 feet tall and 13 feet wide so the gualion tunnel may not be the biggest in the world but considering how it was built you've got to tip your hat to the people who created it with their
bare hands and at the most difficult stage of the dig the group was only able to dig about three feet a day the entire Endeavor was so tough that three people even died in the process in the end not only did this tunnel on the mountain change the lives of the villagers giving them better access in and out but the tunnel has also become a big tourist attraction over the last few decades but the tunnel lacks barriers and lamps so drivers enter at their own risk especially at night it's become such a harrowing road that
the locals lovingly refer to it as the road that does not tolerate mistakes pretty menacing number eight the Pan-American Highway on its own the Pan-American Highway doesn't offer the typical Perils of extreme roads like hairpin turns steep Cliff sides with long drops or even unpaved roads so what makes it so dangerous well it's people the majority of the Pan-American Highway is an average roadway however there's one stretch of road that exists in a heavily contested area and the odds of encountering local Rebel forces increase the further you go and while mother nature is notorious for
being both unpredictable and unforgiving humans unfortunately tend to share some similarities with her no shortage of Travelers have been intercepted along the Pan-American Highway by insurgents kidnapped and held for ransoms sometimes for years on end while others simply become prisoners for the rest of their days it's the type of Highway where if you absolutely must drive down it you would better put the pedal to the metal and don't stop until you get to where you need to go number seven Dalton Highway drivers preparing to hit the road and make for the Dalton Highway in Alaska
are advised to bring along as much as they can with them because there isn't a single Hospital Hotel restaurant or gas station for a 400 Mile Stretch much of Dalton highway is unpaved and made of gravel making it an incredibly treacherous ride especially during poor weather conditions and it doesn't get any easier on the steep grades either it's not uncommon for a car to slip and slide up and down the road if the driver isn't on their toes sitting behind the wheel of an all-wheel drive vehicle but that's not all Nature has in store for
drivers because this 400 Mile Stretch is so Barren so devoid of human life outside of the occasional traveler Wildlife feels safe enough traversing the roads and Split Second decisions are all that stand between hitting an animal and some sort of safety but if you attempt to Swerve out of the way the unpaved road will have some other plans for you it's a pretty tough spot to be in and driving over the speed limit is hardly advised in the winters the Dalton High my way gets so bad and so slippery that even the toughest and most
seasoned Ice Road Truckers will downright refuse to cross it and The Avalanches certainly don't make the Dalton Highway any more attractive either number 6. amuria kudz kaiway Siberia has built up a reputation throughout its history from being one of the harshest locations on earth and the folks who have endured there are no doubt as tough as nails and while living there can be rough even getting there is a challenge in its own right as if it's a precursor for what awaits nicknamed the road of Bones the Amor yakutz Highway will get you to one of
the coldest regions of the World by a combination of two highways the r504 colmia highway and the a360 Lena Highway both of which are subject to the same dangers no matter how well maintained they may be both highways are joined by the Lena River Ice Road which is just what it sounds like a makeshift road across the river that's open between December and April when the ice is frozen enough to drive on but nothing is ever guaranteed and the unfortunate truth of the amuria Coots highway is that dozens of lives are lost here each year
as their vehicles fall through the untrustworthy ice visibility on the highway reaches an all-time low the only time it's even open and making it to the ice River Road means making it through the treacherous snow which proves to be even more difficult after periods of heavy rain when things get really bad on the highway traffic jams are 4x4 Vehicles can last for Miles with everyone hoping their cars aren't swallowed whole by the mud number five zoji La pass the zoji law pass in India is the longest five and a half miles of any traveler's life
the Cliffside Road reaches a maximum elevation of a staggering 11 500 feet and there are no guard rails to help keep you from falling off this side the incredibly narrow road passes through the highest mountain range in the world the Himalayas and it's unpaved from end to end landslides are persistent in the area and a lack of traffic signs prevent travelers from knowing what lies ahead and which areas are more prone to the harshness of nature the road of the zojila pass zigs and zags over the craggy Peaks to connect the towns of Srinagar and
lit in the western Himalayan Ranch and it's so treacherous that it's closed during the winter when the 50-foot snowdrifts and high winds will make the road impassable the only Solace here is the fact that the road is less than six miles long it was first built in 1947 for military purposes it's a critical link between lakta and Kashmir and during in those winter months locked eyes completely closed off from the rest of the world as you make your way across the zojila pass it's not hard to notice all of the overturned buses and crashed cars
that didn't make it to the end number four carnally Highway moving over to another area in the risky and Rocky Himalayas of West Nepal we have the harrowing carnally Highway this one is so rough that about 50 people die here every year making the drive along a 155 mile Highway somewhat of a Death Wish even when it's not Monsoon Seasons road is one of the most dangerous in the world thanks to the extremely Dusty surface that makes for poor visibility through the narrow stretches and to make matters worse kicking up all that dust makes it
incredibly tough to see the oncoming landslides Falling Rocks potholes flooded sections and the huge drops off the incredibly steep Cliffs it's not really for the faint of heart and best avoid it at all costs the carnali highway is so bad that the police have even banned driving here at night due to the number of fatal accidents that happen and the fact that 85 percent of the road is considered unsafe [Music] number three North youngest Road all right if you ever find yourself driving in Bolivia and see signs for the north youngest Road make sure you
turn around at all costs it's also known as the road of death but North youngest road is just under 50 miles long and sits high in the air at an elevation of 15 200 feet meaning the air is nice and thin enough to quite literally take your breath away and it ain't too good for your car's engine either leading from La Paz this is a one-lane road full of vertical drops as much as three thousand feet into the Amazon rainforest below to about a long way down and if death-defying Cliffs into the jungle below aren't
enough for you Daredevils and Thrill Seekers the north youngest road is complete with more than 200 tight hairpin turns good luck navigating all those through the area's thick fog all while avoiding landslides and rock balls as you can't help but notice a complete lack of guard rails until 1994 about 300 Travelers died on the road of death every year and makeshift memorials are scattered all along the road where people plunged over the edge Into The Ravines below as time has gone on though certain parts of the road have been bypassed to make for two lanes
to help the flow of traffic but cyclists still come from all over the world to challenge the road of death with some failing and falling to their Doom sometimes it's best not to challenge nature number two killar tapangi road heading back over to India for the penultimate entry on our list we have the ominously named kilar to pangi Road at 70 miles long this road reaches a maximum elevation of 8 200 feet and offers zero guard rails to help travelers from falling over the edge the fact the fact this road even exists is kind of
mind-boggling unless you have nerves of Steel and pro-driving skills you would best steer clear this road is only open during the summer months and it's completely unpaved meaning you're driving extra slowly over potholes and giant rocks that have fallen over the years and will likely never be removed but there is one Six Mile Stretch in particular that boasts a rocky overhang that looks like it's ready to come crashing down at any given moment this road was built hundreds of years ago by the local villagers and has been repaired a total of zero times since then
the kalar to pangney road is only wide enough for one Jeep at a time and one false move is going to send the vehicle two thousand feet down off the vertical cliff number one Skippers Canyon Road Skipper's Canyon Road is carved right into the mountains of New Zealand and despite being open to drivers this road is anything but paved it was hand carved by miners over a hundred years ago and remains as thin narrow and horrifying as it was all those years ago Skipper's Canyon Road is just over 16 miles long running from the paved
Coronet Peak Road to Skipper's Campground and the track traverses the face of the Canyon High over the Raging shot over River today the rocky road is most frequently used by tour buses with incredibly skilled and careful drivers at the helm and Adventure companies just looking to give their guests a thrill as they look down to what could be their Doom if the vehicle's weight shifts just an ounce over to the wrong side because there are of course no guard rails here to save you and to make matters worse the road becomes too narrow in certain
areas creating choke points that will make it physically impossible for two vehicles to pass each other so when they happen what are you gonna do well one of you is gonna have to hit the Skipper's Canyon Road in Reverse until things widen up enough and despite the attraction people lose their lives here every year with 185 dying in 2021 alone watch our vehicles playlist for more top 15 videos about amazing Vehicles sit back relax and binge watch all of our best vehicle videos