Some road trips can be terribly boring. But it also happens that not the destination, but the road and streets along which you are driving, are the main attractions.
If you love to travel by car and want to see something unique on your next corner while driving, tune your navigator for the strangest and most unusual roads and streets in the world.
10. The most winding street in the world - Lombard Street
Where is: on Russian Hill in San Francisco, USA
Anyone hoping to drive the world's most crooked street in the world may now have to pay a toll. The road with eight bends of 400 meters is so popular with tourists that it creates problems for the people who live there.
City bosses believe charging drivers $ 10 (just under Rs. 640) will help ease congestion and noise on this unusual road.
9. Coolest paved road - Ffordd Pen Leh
Where is: Harlech town in North Wales, UK
In July 2019, this street took the official title of the steepest paved road in the world from the previous steepest record holder - Baldwin Street in New Zealand.
Ffordd Pen Leh has a length of 330 meters and a lifting height of 50 meters. Some of its sections have a slope of 37.45%. At the steepest point, the slope of the road is 1: 2.67 (the height increases by one meter for every 2.67 meters in length), while at Baldwin Street it is 1: 2.86.
To avoid accidents, the authorities restricted traffic on the northern part of the street, where cars are only allowed to move down.
8. The most musical road - Civic music road
Where is: Lancaster, California, USA
Many motorists like to say they can hear the music of the road, but some roads do sound, and how.
One of the places where you can feel the beat of the asphalt is in Lancaster, California, on the Civic Musical Road.
Throughout its 400-meter length, car owners hear an excerpt from the overture to the opera "Wilhelm Tell" by Gioacchino Rossini. The road was originally intended to advertise the Honda Civic, but soon after its construction, the music bands had to be moved away from residential buildings. Local residents did not appreciate the art and began to complain about the increased noise level.
7. The most "office road" - the multi-storey building Gate Tower
Where is: Osaka city, Japan
Imagine a typical day at the office. Employees are busy with paperwork, someone drinks coffee, and someone secretly from their superiors has opened this site and reads it. And nearby cars pass silently.
This is exactly what happens in one of the office buildings in Osaka, through which the Hanshin Expressway passes. The highway occupies three floors of a 16-story office building. Since the route is perfectly soundproofed, cars do not interfere with office workers.
6. The narrowest street - Spreuerhofstrasse
Where is: Reutlingen, Germany
When building this amazing street in 1727, the city authorities hardly thought that someday "self-propelled carts" would rush along it. They do not rush, because even a person who wants to walk along Spreuerhofstrasse has to move sideways.
At its narrowest point, the Spreierhofstrasse is 31 cm wide, and at its widest it is 50 cm.
But, despite its "impassability", the street has become a symbol of the city and a popular tourist attraction.
5. The shortest street is Ebenezer Place
Where is: Wick, Scotland
Say something like "John Wick - Baba Yaga" on the way and you will already reach the end of the shortest street in the world. Its length is only 2.6 meters. And there is only one house on it. Number 1. This is the small Mackays Hotel.
4. The longest road in winter is the Vapusk Trail
Where is: between Gillam, Manitoba and Peavanook, Ontario, Canada
The longest seasonal road, 752 km long, is built every January in Canada.
It is based on snow and ice, and allows locals to travel to remote areas around Hudson Bay for weeks. During the warmer months, these areas are accessible only by air.
3. The most difficult road - "Magic carousel"
Where is: Swindon, England
This bunch of rings will make any tourist who dares to go there by car to tear their hair out and curse the day when they decided to get behind the wheel. It was built in 1972 and even then had the fame of the most difficult interchange in the world.
Drivers need to move clockwise along the large circle, alternately overcoming five small circular nodes. Mini-rings are marked only with markings, which does not simplify the task for drivers.
2. The widest street - Monumental shaft
Where is: Brasilia city, Brazil
The widest road in the world is in the capital of Brazil. This avenue was opened in April 1960 and is 250 meters wide. It connects the Municipal Square with the Three Powers Square.
Local residents even have an urban legend that hundreds of cars can simultaneously drive along the Monumental Wall. As the saying goes, a strong statement that no one will check.
1. Longest road - Pan American Highway
Where is: from Alaska in the USA to Brasilia in Brazil, South America
The total length of this highway is 30,000 kilometers. Aside from the 87-kilometer Darien Gap in the jungle bordering Panama and Colombia, the Pan American Highway the longest road in the world, it creates a single road system that includes all national road networks of the continental states of America.