Why No One Will Fix America's Most Terrifying Road
Why Doesn't Anyone Want to Fix One of America's Scariest Roads?
The Million Dollar Highway in Colorado's Uncompahgre Gorge is one of the most dangerous and most appealing roads in the country. Carved into cliffs, it is prone to rockfalls and avalanches, with no guardrails and sheer drops of over 400 feet. Despite horrific crashes and heroic rescues, efforts to improve it remain stalled. The article explores the road's history and the challenges of making it safer.
People can behave erratically on the Million Dollar Highway. There has been at least one instance in which a driver got into a heated argument with her passengers, pulled over, kicked them out, and then, in full view of everybody, accelerated straight off the edge, to her death.
- seemaze
"The motorized tourist, reluctant to give up his back-assward view of the world, demands that the park administration pave the trails, clear out the brush, and put up guard rails... he wants luxury and convenience, and he gets it—at the cost of the wilderness."
--Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
- kccqzy
This article really reminds of how the Golden Gate Bridge was one of the most suicide-prone bridges in the country, and the locals resisted making the barriers higher or add a protective net beneath. The reasoning was basically the same: it’s too expensive, it’s a matter of personal responsibility, know the risks yourself, etc.
- dtagames
There's a lot of dangerous infrastructure in America. This is far from the only road that causes accidents and deaths on the regular because it is in inherently unsafe or was designed for different kinds of traffic than it has now.
The fact that this road was built in the previous century makes it part of that second category.
In general, we seem unwilling to invest in American road infrastructure. I'd be willing to bet that potholes, the unexciting normal kind you don't even notice in a car, cause more loss of life and loss of money than any particular dramatic road.
- jtbayly
My family was driving this road south from Ouray to Durango one morning when I was about 20. We got stuck in a traffic jam. Eventually we made it to the place where a car had gone over the edge the night before, and they were trying to winch it up about 1000 feet. Papers and belongings were scattered down the mountainside. It was very sad and sobering. Driving back that night in light rain was terrifying.
- exabrial
Probably because it doesn't need to be fixed. Not every complaint requires government intervention, which we've often see is more expensive and problematic then anything it actually solves.
Pro tip: Take a different route, or drive 15mph.