Highway to nowhere: 11 of the loneliest roads in the world

A frozen 1,000-mile highway that transports supplies to the South Pole, and Nevada's Route 50, which cuts through the desert and is dubbed “The Loneliest Road in America” - two paths that could hardly be more different, but both among the most desolate drives in the world.

If you're looking for an antidote to crowds and traffic jams, you have arrived: Telegraph Travel has rounded up the most remote roads you can navigate by car. Some significantly more feasible than others...

1. Dalton Highway, Alaska

This isolated 414-mile highway was built in 1974 as a supply road to support oil exploration in Alaska, and snakes all the way up into the Arctic wilderness.

Dalton Highway Alaska

There are just three towns along the way, with a total population of 60 people, and only three petrol stations on the entire route, making it by far the longest stretch of serviceless road in North America.

And don't attempt the journey in a modest Ford Mondeo. The giant trucks that ply this route kick up huge clouds of dust, reducing visibility to zero, and drivers need to be aware of mammoth pot holes.

2. Eyre Highway, Australia

Linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain, Eyre Highway was named after English explorer Edward John Eyre, who crossed it in 1840. He described the Nullarbor as, “a hideous anomaly, a blot on the face of nature. The sort of place one gets into in bad dreams”.

Eyre Highway Australia

Not the sort of parched landscape you want to break down in, this region is populated with kangaroos, poisonous snakes, and not a lot else - and includes the longest straight stretch in the country of 91 miles with not a single turn.

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3. Pamir Highway, Central Asia

Telegraph Travel’s Liz Dodd writes: "Wild and remote, the Pamir Highway - the unofficial name for the stretch of Soviet-constructed M41 road that passes through the mountainous Pamir region of Tajikistan between the capital Dushanbe and Osh in Kyrgyzstan - is an adventurous traveller’s dream."

Pamir Highway

She goes on: “Traversing lush river valleys and snow-capped peaks, the scenery alone is reason enough to visit - if you can handle the altitude, the frequently unpaved road surface and the brutal temperature. Along the Panj River the Pamir Highway runs mere metres from Afghanistan. Its tiny villages, cut off completely from the outside world, seem to be preserved in time: donkeys stacked with hay and death-defying scooter riders are the only people travelling between them.”

4. K504 Kolyma Highway, Russia

Built with the use of gulag labour under Stalin’s regime and known as the Road of Bones due to the large number who perished, this 1,200-mile route connects the eastern Russian port towns of Magadan and Yakutsk, in eastern Siberia - the coldest city on Earth.

R504 Kolyma Highway Russia

Winters along this path take in ten months of relentless snow and ice, but the other two months of every year make conditions even harder, when the road turns to a sludge of mud and parts become nigh-impossible to cross.

5. Longyearbyen, Norway

In the harsh wilds of Norway’s far-north Svalbard archipelago lies the coal-mining town of Longyearbyen. Leading out from it towards the North Pole is the Longyearbyen Road, a strip of tarmac with several unpaved sections built on permafrost ground (frozen year-round).

Longyearbyen Norway

You won’t find many people capable of navigating it, particularly during winter when the sun doesn’t rise for four months and snow blizzards are rife. You’ve also got roaming polar bears to contend with, so it’s not advisable to step out of your car - posing a bit of problem should you find yourself with a flat tyre.  

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6. Trans-Taiga, Canada

At the far end of this lonely northern Quebec road, you’ll be 460 miles from the nearest town. Leading along the Caniapiscau Reservoir, mainly through forest and and bogs on a unpaved road, it was built to access the region’s remote hydro-electric generating stations. Littered with huge chunks of gravel, this is not a drive kind to tyres, nor windshields for that matter.

Trans Taiga Canada

“The road is in dreadful condition and requires strong nerves to negotiate,” advises DangerousRoads.org.

7. D915, Turkey

Located at the base of Soganli Mountain in Turkey’s Trabzon Province, the notorious D915 is a steep, twisting road with no less than 29 hairpin turns - and for this reason has been declared by many to be the most dangerous road in the world.

D915 Turkey

During the winter, it’s often too perilous and storm-thrashed to stay open, even to the daredevil drivers who would otherwise choose to take it on. It’s very narrow, poorly maintained and has no safety railings - so unsurprisingly remains largely desolate. The landscape, however, in undeniably beautiful. 

8. Route 5, Chile

Chile’s longest road, Route 5 is a lonely section of the famed Pan-American Highway -  the world's longest motorable road according to Guinness World Records - which runs all the way from Alaska down to the tip of Argentina. The Chilean portion of it spans the country’s entire length but is at its quietest where it slices through the arid Atacama Desert.

Route 5 Chile

Gazing from the window, you’ll enjoy a view of pretty much nothing, pass few other vehicles and make do with only a handful of petrol stations. Many drivers have lost their lives on this stretch, the main culprit being boredom, leading to a loss of concentration.

9. Death Road, Bolivia

Also known as El Camino de la Muerte or "Death Road", this 43-mile track was built by Paraguayan prisoners in the 1930s and takes fearless motorists from the Bolivian capital of La Paz to the town of Corioco. Cars travel in both directions - not many of them - and the road is rarely more than 10-foot wide, with no guard rails.

Death Road Bolivia

Heavy rain and fog often add to the danger, and one minor miscalculation can mean a fall of nearly 2,000ft. The road has claimed thousands of lives, and crosses mark many of the spots where vehicles have fallen. The high death toll and spectacular setting has also encouraged fearless cyclists to attempt the journey on two wheels.

A new section now bypasses one of the most dangerous parts of the old route, leaving it ghostly quiet these days.

10. Highway 50, Nevada

“When Life magazine branded Highway 50 in Nevada ‘The Loneliest Road in America’, requiring ‘survival skills’ to negotiate, it was not being complimentary,” writes Telegraph Travel’s Paul Bray.

Highway 50 Nevada

“But 30 years later the epithet has become a badge of honour for the route. They’ll even give you an official certificate, signed by the governor, to prove you’ve survived it.”

A wild drive beneath deep blue skies, spanning 18 mountain ranges and bone-white deserts, passing millennia-old rock art and ghost towns, and following the route of the legendary Pony Express, it might be sparsely populated but this road trip is far from boring.

11. The South Pole Traverse, Antarctica

Given that Antarctica is easily the loneliest portion of the planet, it’s not surprising that it hosts arguably the most secluded road of all. The McMurdo-South Pole Highway was built on compacted snow in 2005 to link two American research bases: the McMurdo Station and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.

The South Pole Traverse Antarctica

The road enables vehicles to transport fuel and heavy equipment from A to B, albeit slowly - its first successful traverse took 40 days via tractor. Adventurer Maria Leijerstam later used a portion of the snow highway to win the accolade of being the first person to reach the South Pole on a bicycle, which she completed in 2013.