Some Of The World's Most Unique Roads

If you enjoy coupling your road trip with something a little out of the ordinary you may like to take a look at the following unique and unusual roads found around the world.  

Avenida 9 Julio, Buenos Aries

Avenida 9 de Julio, Buenos Aries, Argentina - Considered to be the world's widest road, this one kilometer long thoroughfare is located between the suburb of Retiro and the Rio de Plata waterfront of Argentina's capital city Buenos Aries.

The avenue consists of two seven lane carriageways which are flanked at either side by another two parralel roads, making a grand total of eighteen carriageways in all.  

The Bakar Interchange can be seen on the left 

 

 The Bakar Interchange, Croatia – Definitely not the world’s largest of interchanges, but certainly the most scenic.

This concrete stack interchange links Croatia’s seven kilometer long D40 road with the 34 kilometer long  A7 Highway just outside the small port town of Bakar on Croatia’s Adriatic Coast.

The interchange was built in order to accommodate the large volume of traffic heading for the nearby international cargo terminal at the Port of Rijeka, situated on the Bay of Bakar.  

  

Baldwin Street, Dunedin

Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand - Considered to be the world's steepest street, this 350 meter long road is located on New Zealand’s South Island, between North Road and Buchanan Street in the city of Dunedin's suburb of North East Valley.

The road attains a height of 330 meters above sea level at a gradient of 1 in 5 as it makes it’s way along the north west face of Signal Hill.  

Capulin Volcano Road, Mew Mexico

Capulin Volcano Road, Capulin, New Mexico - This most unusual of roads is located along the side of an extinct volcano.

Located in the Capulin National Park of north eastern New Mexico, the road measures 3.2 kilometers in length and attains a height of 2,494 meters above sea level as it spirals it's way around the side of this sixty thousand year old cinder cone volcano.  

   

Guaoliang Cliff Road, Henan Province

Guaoliang Cliff Road, Henan Province, China - This 1.2 kilometer long cliff road was hand built by fourteen local residents between1972 and 1977, after the Chinese government refused to finance a road in such an isloated location.

Fed up with the barrier that the vast Taihang Mountain was causing for the village of Guaoliang, the fourteen men set about constructing their own four meter wide by 5 meter high tunnel.

Since then two more hand hewn mountain tunnels have been carved out of the cliff face near the neighbouring villages of Kunshan and Xiyagou.

Today these tunnels have not only become a lifeline for the residents of these out of the way villages, but have also become major tourist attractions in this very isolated region of eastern China.

The tunnels can be accessed by way of the S229 Highway, located 77 kilometers north of the city of Xinxiang. 

  

Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, Los Angeles

Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, Los Angeles, California - This triple level stack interchange, considered to be one of the world's largest, is located between the south Los Angeles suburbs of Watts and Athens and allows entry and exit in all four points of the compass for the country’s Interstate Highway 110 and Interstate Highway 105.   

Lombard Street, San Francisco
Image courtesy of David Yu, wikimedia commons

Lombard Street, San Francisco, California.  – Considered to be the world’s crookedest road, this twelve block long thoroughfare located between the city of San Francisco’s Presido Boulevard and Embarcadero, is better known for it’s 180 meter long, brick paved section located in the city’s Russian Hill area. 

Located between Hyde Street and Leavenworth Street the road, which has eight hairpin bends along a 27% gradient, can only be driven along at five miles an hour and in one direction, downhill.  

 

The Nanbei Elevated Road, Puxi, Shanghai

   

Nanbei Elevated Road, Shanghai, China – This vast six level, stack interchange is located in China’s largest city, Shanghai.

Located in the Yanan Middle Road area of the city's cultural and residential area of Puxi, the interchange is considered to have the world's highest number of levels.

The Perdana Putra on Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Boulevard

Putrajaya Roundabout, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - With a circumference of 3.4 kilometers the Putrajaya Roundabout, situated just south of Malaysia’s capital city Kuala Lumpur is considered to be the world's largest.

So large infact that it is home the Istana Melawati National Palace, the Putra Perdana Monument, a landscaped park and a five star hotel. 

The roundabout located in this beautiful garden city is also situated on one of the world's longest named roads, the Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Boulevard. 

 

The Parinacota Volcano, Chile

  

Route 11, Chile – This 192 kilometer long highway links the port town of Arica with the mountain village of Chungara – Tambo Quermado in northern Chile. 

The road is unique for beginning at sea level, where it makes it’s way along the River Lluta Valley, before climbing to an ultimate elevation of 4,500 meters above sea level as it makes it’s way along several hairpin bends through the snow capped peaks of several volcanoes situated along the Chile / Bolivia border before eventually terminating at the Lauca National Park. This 1,379 square kilometer national park, which borders the Sajamo National Park in Bolivia, contains several lakes, volcanic calderas, lava fields and archaeological sites. 

Route 11 is one of those unique roadways which allows the visitor to be able to sunbathe on the beach in the morning and to go ski-ing in the mountains in the afternoon. 
Of course there are several roads around the world which offer the visitor this type of experience, but few of them manage to reach such altitude sickness inducing heights in such a short drive.      

  

The Lotus Bridge, Macau

The Lotus Bridge, Macau - China – Spanning the Pearl River Delta and linking the Chinese island of Hengquin with the Island territory of Macau, this unusual bridge is one of only a handful of international roads which provide drivers with a left hand drive to right hand drive crossover in one smooth operation.  

  


                        FIND HOTELS NEAR THE WORLD'S MOST UNIQUE ROADS