Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site eneevax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!ucbvax!ucdavis!lll-crg!gymble!umcp-cs!eneevax!hsu From: hsu@eneevax.UUCP (David T. Hsu) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: Best Roads Message-ID: <397@eneevax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 25-Oct-85 13:01:00 EST Article-I.D.: eneevax.397 Posted: Fri Oct 25 13:01:00 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 28-Oct-85 03:47:23 EST References: <526@phri.UUCP> <3900003@tilt.FUN> <10792@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Reply-To: hsu@eneevax.UUCP (David T. Hsu) Organization: U of Maryland, EE Dept., College Park, MD Lines: 41 In article <10792@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> chin@ucbvax.UUCP (David Chin) writes: > >The worst road in the world is much more difficult to state since there are >so many junk roads around. My vote would have to go to the road to >Sun-Moon Lake in Taiwan. This road (when I was there many years ago) >hugged the mountainsides, but was almost completely unpaved. The crushed >rock surface was so bad that it could cause seasickness. Also, the road >was so narrow that two small cars would have considerable trouble passing >one another on parts of the road. Moreover, the people who regularly >travel on the road drove rickety cars which looked like they would fall >apart any second at speeds that were suicidal. None of the cars had any >shocks left and it often looked as if they would just bounce off the road. >More than once, I saw tires go off the road and there were signs that at >least a few people hadn't made it (burned out hulks down the mountainsides). >The key points are that this road in combination with its drivers was not >only highly uncomfortable, but also extremely unsafe. Thanks for reminding me of the WORST road I rode on (replace context US with context EverywhereYou'veBeen). Must be the East-West Cross Island Highway in Taiwan. Paved (thus..a road) this highway is cut INTO a very steep granite face for much of its length, and sports literally dozens of tunnels each mile. Barely two lanes, I ended up traveling this thing in a bus, and when two buses want to pass in opposite directions, everybody holds their breath. Also, being cut into a face, parts of the roadway constantly fall into the gorge below, knocking out the entire lane sometimes. Vertical clearance in the tunnels is not amusing, either. My great-uncle was the chief engineer on the project, and I'm surprised that he is still into transportation. Of course, having been constructed over 20 years ago, I can see why it wasn't made as a superhighway. Despite this, one of my friends remarked "Damn, I wish I had my Spitfire on this road." -dave -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Hsu Across the net... USnail: Communications & Signal Processing Laboratory hsu @ eneevax.umd.edu Dept of Electr Engr, Univ Md hsu @ mit-prep.arpa College Park, MD 20742 hsu @ umd2.arpa UUCP: {seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!eneevax!hsu BITnet: CF522 @ UMDD "...YOU can enjoy an EXCITING career as a diesel mechanic..."