The history of Yungas Road

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The history of Yungas Road

The road was constructed in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisoners during the Chaco War which is a war between Bolivia and Paraguay. This road is almost 70 kilometers long stretch of winding road through the mountain which links the city of La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia with the Coroico city. The entire route is surrounded by mountainous terrain along the way. The highest point of this road is 4,650 meters high.

Road of Death

The name “Road of Death” was not the original name of this road but it is derived from 200 to 300 people traveling on it died each year from various accidents and was officially named the world's most dangerous road by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1995.

 

In July 1983, a bus fell down into a canyon, killing more than 100 passengers. This is the Bolivia's worst road accident and followed by another jeep accident that killed eight Israeli travelers in December 1999.

Danger of Yungas Road

The dangers of the Yungas road are worse that we can imagine. It was considered dangerous because of its steep slopes, gravel road surface, lack of guardrails and the most of the road is the width of a single vehicle, about 3 Meters. An opposite direction crash is the main cause of the car crash. The height of the abyss or cliff is up to 600-1,000 meters along the way. It’s very difficult to rescue or recover the wreckage.

Beside the deteriorating road conditions, the climate and surrounding environment can also be called catastrophic whether it’s a height of more than 4 thousand meters that makes traveler dizzy, thick fog that exists all year so, the visibility is almost zero. Moreover, the wet-cold weather conditions make the ground slush like clay and it can cause the landslides at any time.

Safer route

Due to the news of accidents that are countless until it got the name of the most dangerous road in the world but from 2006 to 2009, Bolivian authorities built a new highway to replace the Yungas road.

The new route crosses all the dangerous parts of the Yungas road, two-lane road has been built with paved road, electrical ,drainage and guardrails for driving safety including safety for local people and tourists from various places.

Nowadays

Currently, the Yungas Road is occupied by very few cars, buses or large vehicles. Due to the construction of new safer highways. Thus, this route was only used by local residents to travel between villages and also to become an important tourist destination of the country with more than 10,000 tourists per year. Most of them are riders and cyclists who love adventure or want new experiences and challenges to the extreme even the road is still dangerous.