Talk:Yungas Road

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Cycling: Mountain Biking

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[edit]

It sounds like a very dramatic scene. Does anyone have a photo or drawing? --Drewnoakes 14:14, 12 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

http://flickr.com/search/?q=death+road+bolivia&s=int

Pictures of mountain biking the road here: http://www.gravitybolivia.com/gallery/PhotohighlightsfromtheWorldsMostDangerousRoad

On the page it states, "A Mitsubishi Outlander TV commercial was the first ever filmed on the road." with a link to a Mitsubishi Outlander. Having a link to the commercial would not have been a better idea? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.110.55.139 (talk) 20:26, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Link about the Death Road[edit]

Hi, I would like to propose this external link about the Death Road:

http://www.jordibusque.com/Index/Stories/YungasRoad/YungasRoad_01.html

Please, let me know what do you think. Panex 12:56, 20 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again. If nobody says something agaist, I will wait a few days more and add the link. Thanks Panex 16:15, 24 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not so dangerous I think ...[edit]

I've a question ... when were all the pics taken? I think not after 2003!!

I was there in 2004, and I can say the road is good! There were only few places, where was old road, but it was covered by "human lights" ... I think now, it must be completed.

Sure, foggy conditions are still big problem..

Check "photo of World's most dangerous road from my trip in 2004...

It's like showing pics from 11th September and say USA is very dangerous ...

--Goliathus 11:38, 29 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

USA is very dangerous. Just go out to the mall, workplace and/or school and you don't know if you'll be able to return safely as some maniac will open fire.

Norum 17:04, 27 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Already very dangerous

Hi Goliathus, I should say that the road continues to be very dangerous. The pictures from the link

http://www.jordibusque.com/Index/Stories/YungasRoad/YungasRoad_01.html

were taken between May and August 2006. During my stay a bus felt down causing 24 death people (plus 31 injured), you can see:

http://www.laprensa.com.bo/20060808/politica/politica04.htm

The last important accident was last saturday (December 23) with another bus falling down afecting almos 50 people (several death), you can check:

http://www.la-razon.com/Versiones/20061223_005764/nota_256_371513.htm

May be when you visited the place your bus took the new road. But most of the drivers (specially the not turist) continues taking the old one in order to save time. Panex 21:16, 30 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The pic you're showing is the new road, wich is made of tarmac and hardly the most dangerous road, the old North Yungas road is still in use, but since 1997, downhill drives are allowed only between 6AM and 6PM, and uphill drives only allowed on the night, and now the casualties have gone down to 10-20 deaths year, wich is way less that the 200-300 per year we used to have before 1997. maybe we should correct that on the article. The road isn't what it used to be jso1985

The death toll on the old road is approximantly 130 a year. How is that not dangerous? Eatspie (talk) 17:08, 13 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I rode this road on a bike in May 2009 and was under the impression that traffic was either not allowed on the old road or the new road was being overwhelmingly adopted as the best route. We didn't pass any traffic along the whole section and the guide said this was normal. It certainly is a dangerous road because of the geography but not because of traffic as far as I now understand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.72.112.227 (talk) 19:21, 27 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The new road was opened in late 2006 or so. By the time I went down in late 2007 (on a bike, like you), the old road was open to ordinary traffic but it wasn't actually being used much - 99% of the traffic had switched over to the new one - which we call the "replacement route" in the article. The old road (that section that is still gravelled) is a lot safer than it used to be simply from the lack of traffic.

In this sense, I think this article is pretty much accurate, and I don't think it needs changing - note that talk pages are here for the discussion of the article rather than the topic. Pfainuk talk 20:53, 27 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

German version[edit]

A German version is now available in the german wikipedia (Yungas Straße) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.170.211.196 (talk) 08:47, 4 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Alcohol Ceremony[edit]

I see no mention of the little ceremony that some drivers go through at the little shrine/monument on the left of the road at the summit. A prayer and the splashing of some alcohol on the shrine is said to ensure a safe return. Well, it did in our case. Sitting in the left back seat of a minibus over a 1,000 foot drop as it backed up into an outside passing place on the way down was certainly one of the most memorable moments of my life, and possibly one of the most life shortening. Mafestel (talk) 21:13, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I also recall our driver doing this, although his specific version of the ritual included taking a sip himself! Fëaluinix (talk) 18:54, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mixup about the dates[edit]

The article says that the road was built in the 1910s by Paraguayan prisoners of war taken in the Chaco War. In fact, the Chaco War was fought between 1932-1935, so if the prisoners of war were the only ones to build the road, it could not have been built in the1910s. In fact, Paraguayan prisoners of war were used to built at least part of the road. A momument stands on the road at the point where they were thrown off the side after their work was done (giving another reason to call it the Death Road). I don't know, though, if the road was perhaps started in 1910. More research needs to be done as the article in very unclear, and perhaps inaccurate, as written. ↪ Jhymi ^Talk 02:31, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Altitude[edit]

I changed the maximum altitude to 4650m as measured by GPS during July 2009 - see Flickr photo page for the exact figures. --Seamusharris (talk) 08:54, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also added the correct minimum altitude for Coroico - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmyharris/3855666716/meta/ --Seamusharris (talk) 09:25, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Guoliang Tunnel often incorrectly identified as showing the Yungas Road.[edit]

The article states:

Photographs of China's Guoliang Tunnel are often incorrectly identified as showing the Yungas Road.

However, the reference is only a single e-mail "hoax" which intermixed such pictures. I put a CN tag on the statement. Rsduhamel (talk) 16:30, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Stremnaya[edit]

Is this also called Stremnaya Road? Is there a place named Stremnaya in Bolivia or elsewhere? Casey (talk) 02:11, 23 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dangerous[edit]

It is true that it has been a "popular tourist destination starting in the 1990s, drawing some 25,000 thrillseekers...Nevertheless, the Yungas Road remains dangerous" What has increasing popularity got to do with danger? The road does not become less dangerous just because there are more travelers!101.98.140.129 (talk) 04:48, 20 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Traveling frequency?[edit]

It is stated that in 2006, it was estimated that 200 to 300 travelers were killed every year along the road. But how many travels are made along the road every year (counting every person and every travel made)? Or how many kilometers are driven along the road every year (counting every kilometer driven by every person)? It makes a huge difference whether there are 2,000 or 2,000,000 travels made along the road every year. —Kri (talk) 13:07, 2 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Old road vs. new road[edit]

This article needs an overhaul. It's hard to find references since there's so my hype (and I suspect circular referencing back to this article) but as far as I can tell, the original Yungas road (the north road) has been replaced by a more modern route (the south road). The old road is now a tourist attraction rather than an actual transportation route. It needs more recent information from sources that do not have an interest in perpetuating the hype e.g. this one. An up-to-date version of the article is in the Spanish language Wikipedia. --Cornellier (talk) 14:55, 4 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]