mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Thanks to Neatorama for the link, which we found so inspiringly frightening, we had to show our readers. The road shown here is the Guoliang Tunnel in Taihang mountains (China). It has been built by villagers themselves, which is an inspiring story in itself:
“Before 1972, the path chiseled into the rock used to be the only access linking the village with the outside world. Then the villagers decided to dig a tunnel through the rocky cliff. Led by Shen Mingxin, head of the village, they sold goats and herbs to buy hammers and steel tools. Thirteen strong villagers began the project. It took them five years to finish the 1,200-metre-long tunnel which is about 5 meters high and 4 meters wide. Some of the villagers even gave their lives to it. On May 1, 1977, the tunnel was opened to traffic.”
The wall of the tunnel is uneven and there are more than 30 “windows” of different sizes and shapes. Some windows are round and some are square, and they range from dozens of metres long to standard-window-size. It is frightening to look down from the windows, where strange rocks hanging form the sheer cliff above and a seemingly bottomless pit lying below. A village, opposite the tunnel, appears to hang on the precipice.
Comments (11)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
I think I’ll just leave this as the “road not taken” for a reason.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 2-15-2007 at 3:27 pm
That’s both impressive and frightening at the same time. I’d hate to slip on that road!
posted by heather on 2-16-2007 at 12:04 am
Is this a driving road or walking road?
What an engineering feat!!!
posted by nancy e on 2-21-2007 at 1:14 am
Perhaps it is the scariest road in the world, but wouldn’t the most dangerous be the one with the most annual casualties per traveler?
posted by Nat on 2-21-2007 at 7:57 am
What is the road with the most casualties annually?
posted by Susan on 2-21-2007 at 4:18 pm
This looks so cool. A photographers dream. I’d love to go and be able to say I went on the most dangerous road.
I’d love to see the village on the other side too.
posted by Jennifer on 2-21-2007 at 5:08 pm
I’d like to walk through it some day.
posted by Geetali on 2-21-2007 at 5:12 pm
i does’nt even LOOK real does it?
i have been there and it is NOT a road that you can drive on.
In fact you have to get permission to even use it for the day!!
posted by dirt on 2-21-2007 at 5:44 pm
Either the road from La Paz to Coroico in Bolivia, the Shaikh Zayed Road in Dubai, the road from Moscow to Yakutsk in Russia, or the road from Katmandu to Mt. Everest in Nepal.
Probably the first one. It’s 50 miles long and 300 people a year die on it.
posted by Nat on 2-22-2007 at 7:52 am
So the math would be “annual casualties per traveler per mile” that on would consider for risk assesment.
posted by Nat on 2-22-2007 at 7:56 am
i dont know about you, but just from the looks of it, while it may not be the most dangerous road, i think it has the potential to be one, if they allowed everyone to drive on it. the ground is not paved, and someone driving at an inappropriate speed, or just without good brakes, could just fly right out one of the windows. although personally, i think it would be a blast to drive on.
posted by nicole on 2-25-2007 at 12:53 pm