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This article was first published 11 years ago

10 wildest highways in the world

Last updated on: August 31, 2012 08:41 IST

Image: An aerial view shows vehicles travelling on intersections at night in downtown Shanghai.
Photographs: Aly Song/Reuters

There are some highways that cross 16 countries, some have no speed limit and some have 26 lanes on each side.

Let's take a look at some of the wildest highways in the world.

Source: Business Insider

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10 wildest highways in the world


Photographs: Wikipedia

Pan American

First proposed in 1923, the Pan American Highway is the world's longest highway system, stretching over roughly 16,000 miles (25,749.50 kilometre), says Business Insider.

Drivers who take on the entire route cross through 16 countries, including the United States, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, and Peru, it says.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: A view of the 18-lane wide Highway 401 south of Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario.
Photographs: Clashmaker/Wikipedia

Highway 401

King's Highway 401, also known by its official name as the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway and colloquially as 401, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario stretching 817.9 kilometres from Windsor to the Quebec border.

The segment of Highway 401 passing through Toronto is the busiest highway in North America, and one of the widest and busiest in the world.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: View from Funkturm Berlin.
Photographs: Wegen/Wikipedia

German autobahns

The German autobahns form the nationally coordinated motorway system in Germany. They have no general speed limit, but the advisory speed limit is 130 kilometres per hour.

Germany's autobahn network has a total length of about 12,800 km, or 7,965 miles in 2011, which ranks as the fifth longest highway in the world behind the Interstate Highway System of the United States, the National Trunk Highway System of China, the Trans-Canada Highway of Canada and the motorways of Spain.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: A view of the Trollstigen Road in Norway,
Photographs: Color probe/Wikipedia

Trollstigen

Trollstigen is a serpentine mountain road in Rauma, Norway, part of Norwegian National Road 63 connecting Andalsnes in Rauma and Valldal in Norddal. It is a popular tourist attraction due to its steep incline of nine per cent and eleven hairpin bends up a steep mountain side.

Trollstigen was opened on July 31, 1936, by King Haakon VII after eight years of construction. During the top tourist season about 7,000 vehicles pass daily.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: Photo is for representation purpose only.
Photographs: Matt McKnight/Reuters

Guoliang Tunnel

The Guoliang Tunnel is carved along the side of and through a mountain in China. The tunnel is located in the Taihang Mountains, which are situated in the Henan Province of China.

Before the tunnel was constructed, access to the nearby Guoliang was restricted to a difficult path carved into the mountainside. The village is nestled in a valley surrounded by towering mountains cut off from outside civilisation.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: Interstate I-93 Tunnel in Boston, part of the Big Dig
Photographs: Rene Schwietzke/Wikipedia

Big Dig

The Central Artery/Tunnel Project, known unofficially as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that re-routed the Central Artery (Interstate 93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into a 3.5-mile (5.6-km) tunnel.

The project also included the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel (extending Interstate 90 to Logan International Airport), the Leonard P Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the space vacated by the previous I-93 elevated roadway.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: Yungas Road between La Paz and Coroico.
Photographs: Wikipedia

Yungas Road

The North Yungas Road is a 61-kilometre or 69-kilometre road leading from La Paz to Coroico, 56 kilometres northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia.

It is legendary for its extreme danger and in 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank christened it as the 'world's most dangerous road'.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: A view of the 'Katy Freeway' in Houston.
Photographs: Socrate76/Wikipedia

Katy Freeway

Interstate 10, or Katy Freeway, is the major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. In the US state of Texas, it runs east from Anthony, at the border with New Mexico, through San Antonio and Houston to the border with Louisiana in Orange, Texas. At just under 1,415km, the stretch of Interstate 10 crossing Texas, maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, is the longest continuous untolled freeway under a single authority in North America, a title formerly held by Ontario's Highway 401.

With 26 lanes in certain parts, the Katy Freeway is the widest highway in the world. It serves more than 219,000 vehicles daily in Texas.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: A view of the Karakoram Highway.
Photographs: See58/Wikipedia

Karakoram Highway

The Karakoram Highway is the highest paved international road in the world. It connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass, at an altitude of 15,397 ft.

It connects China's Xinjiang region with Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions and also serves as a popular tourist attraction.

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10 wildest highways in the world

Image: A view of the Tuen Mun Road Ting Kau Section.
Photographs: WiNG/Wikipedia

Tuen Mun Road

Tuen Mun Road is a major expressway in Hong Kong which connects Tuen Mun with Tsuen Wan, within New Territories. It is part of Hong Kong's Route 9, which circumnavigates the New Territories.

Built in 1977, it was once the major trunk route linking the northwest New Territories to urban Kowloon and is known for its frequent traffic jams and road accidents owing to its early design and heavy usage.