The most dangerous roads in China
Bolivia allegedly has the most dangerous road in the world, but we think these roads from China can easily compete with the south Americans.
We’ve found a compiled list of the most dangerous roads in China, although they are not ranked by number of deaths, but more like their sheer ‘badass-ness’ (if such a word exists) Click continue reading to see these roller coaster roads!
Panshan is 20km wide east to west, and 10km long north to south.
213 National Highway
The 213 National Highway runs from Kunming in Yunan province to Lanzhou city in Gansu. Drivers on this road are prohibited from overtaking, overloading their vehicles and are limited to a top speed of 40kph. The road is exceptionally narrow with many twisty turns, the weather over this road is usually cold all times of year.
318 National Highway
The 318 National Highway connects Sichuan province with Tibet. Tibet naturally has some of the harshest terrain in the world, so its not likely to have the best roads leading in and out. The highest point on this road is just less than 4,000m. The state of this road leading into Tibet was one of the major reasons to build the Tibetan railway system to Lhasa, locals say this section of the road has four seasons per day, freezing, cool, warm, hot, which leads to needless injuries.
320 National Highway – Yellow Flower Bridge Section in Jiangxi
This section of the 320 National Highway seems to be the most dangerous! The complete section from top to bottom is just less than 1km, but the hair raising tight turns might make you wish for flat out tarmac.
The Burma Road – 14 Curves
The Burma Road partially goes through Guizhou province links China, Burma and Vietnam together, the road itself also links the foolish man with heaven.
Tian Men Shan Big Gate Road
What can we say about this one? Its the most dangerous road we’ve ever seen. Would we go down it? Noway! Tian Men Shan is located in Hunan province, the road is 10km from top to bottom. The highest point is 1300m above sea level, and the lowest point is 200m, the road took eight years to finish with work starting in 1998, and finishing in 2006. The scenery looks beautiful, but take your eyes off the road for a second, and you’re on the fast way down to the bottom.
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Drift anyone??
the aim is to drift past the first corner….anything after that is just a clause in the life insurance policy…lol
I’ve ridden parts of 213, Chengdu to Lanzhou section on a motorbike…….f$@&ing mess it was. With a big bit under construction, mud, ice and potholes big enough to swallow a yak.
The picture there with the mud and snow, 3rd one down…….we had less snow more mud, deeper ruts.
Excellant Post Ash – and I thought the A8 and A11 were bad!
I would be interested to find out which were the most dangerous in terms of accidents/deaths!
Ill look for them! Once saw a tally chart style road death sign in Tibet, it said ‘xxx no of dead on this road so far this year!’
Early autumn, clear day, early in the morning, stone sober. Such are the preferred conditions for negotiating these kind of hill descents. And the climbs are challenging too, as the rock slides present lots of surprises.
I wonder which perceptive Chinese car maker(s) send engineering teams out to places like this for vehicle testing. Does China have a Pikes Peak type climb competition?
Thank you for the great photos Ash.
These are really tiring and dangerous roads… The loops in the bottom left pic on “Tian Men Shan Big Gate Road” must be causing a lot of accidents.
Well, on the screen they look so nice. More hairpins than most alp-pass-roads. But if one knows a bit about chinese road, they become a threat indeed. A pity actually.
Cheers, Michael
Nice post. Actually Tian Men Shan is closed to traffic. It is used by small buses taking tourists up and down. We did a cycling race there on Sep 14th 2008. Besides this organized event, the road is also closed to cyclists. I couldn’t imagine the body count if they let everyone loose on it.
cheers, jarek
September 25, 2008
Tian Men Shan, Hunan is probably the most spectacular, cycling race I have ever participated in the world. Not to be taken lightly as I have ridden in at least 20 countries!
The day before the road cycling race (Sept.13)our team (GZCYCLE)took the cable cars up to wreak havoc at the top but it was so beautiful that it took us at least 15 minutes before we started lobbing hand size granite projectiles over the side of the cliff.
We of course worked our way up to larger rocks in the spirit of the Olympics and commenced executing our version of the shotput. Oh joyous day and whatfun had by all!
The sheer cliff drops, coupled with an average of 10% grade, 99 switchbacks and drop dead gorgeous views makes for a fairy tale ride and scenery. Dramatic, (LORD OF THE RINGS DRAMATIC)stark contrast of black granite, and greener than Maui ganji green, make for breathtaking views. One almost expects to see a real dragon fly through the porthole at the top, instead we made a few paper airplanes as an engineering excercise (of course) to prove out our theories of thermal lift.
You can also take the cable car to the top the last landing then hike to heavens gate which is the big hole in the cliff that stunt airplanes currently fly through including a MIG once in 1990.(I wonder why only once)
Although the race uphill did not lend itself to taking in the views (due to my focus on the road directly below my cycling computer exhibiting a heart rate of 180) very steep, the ride down was spectacular. Our group (GZCYCLE) did not wait for the pacecar down, we just engaged the downhill without assistance in a fashion typical with western cycling hammerheads. Naturally!
For beautiful pictures and more details you may e-mail me and I’ll send you pictures that really show this incredible fantasy place.
Ciao,
Philip Richardson
EXPAT Guangzhou
Phillip, as a cyclist myself, I would be very interested in your pictures. please send them! email address is on the contact page!
Although Im not a Roadie, instead preferring offroad, beer and cake, I can appreciate a good view!
Ash,
Check in frequently or better sign in at http://www.gzcycle.com . We will post on this group site information for further bike events, (Road or MTB) including info for next year’s event. You must join that race as it’s a one time a life experience.
Cheers, Klaus (GZCycle Team)
When is next years event? I will bring an MTB, if I must, a road bike!
nice collection, those roads look really tough, didnt know china has such challenges
I have ridden up and down the Tian Men Shan Big Gate Road in a bicycle race to the top! Yes a bicycle race to the top. Pretty tough climb and no worries falling over a 90 degree wall because my climbing speed was 17KPH going up! But going down was another story. I was flying. Each section is pretty short, as a cyclist you go from snail stop to 65Kph in 1Km then have to stop again. Crazy! But will race it again….
Could one of you cyclists please strap a GoPro to your handlebars/helmet next time you go down?
This kind of reading material isn’t something I’m usually interested in. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your content. It’s obvious you put a lot of work into this. Good work.