5. Skippers Canyon Road, New Zealand
Constructed: 1890
Risk Factor: The road’s rock turns to dust or mud, causing sliding and getting stuck
The Skippers Canyon Road is the most dangerous road in New Zealand. When the gold rush took off in the nineteenth century, there was no road present. As miners traverse the canyon, they began to form rough, steep tracks that eventually formed the beginnings of Skippers Road. In 1890, an actual road was constructed over the rough-laid tracks.
Skippers Canyon Road, New Zealand @Amazing roads picdump / imgur.com
The legend behind this road is that more money has been spent to build it than all the gold in Skippers Canyon could repay. Skippers Canyon Road is made from local rock, which is so soft that it turns to dust in dry weather and slippery, slimy mud in wet. When the rock turns to mud, traveling this road is like riding a roller coaster at Six Flags.