Yungas Road
16°17′25″S 67°49′38″W / 16.290253°S 67.827126°W
The Yungas Road, commonly referred to as Death Road, is a 64-kilometre (40 mi) long cycle and vehicle route linking the city of La Paz with the Yungas region of Bolivia. It was built in the 1930s by the Bolivian government to connect the capital city of La Paz to the Amazon Rainforest in the north part of the country. Large amounts of its construction was done by Paraguayan prisoners during the Chaco War. Several sections of the road are less than 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide. Due to the common occurrence of rain, fog, landslides, cascades, steep slopes and cliffs, it is largely considered the most dangerous road in the world.
Unlike in the rest of the country, the Yungas Road is a left-hand traffic road, which allowed drivers to better gauge the distance between their vehicles and the edge of the road. It has since been replaced by a newer, two-lane asphalt road featuring guardrails and drainage systems.
Known for its extreme danger with 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) of descent, the Death Road draws about 25,000 tourists per year and has become a popular destination for adventure tourism, particularly mountain biking. Until the mid-1990s, the accident rate on the road was between 200 and 300 deaths per year. At least 18 cyclists have died on the road since 1998.