My vote goes for Bei Yi Gong . North 1 Highway of Death. I’ve seen it all: 3 trucks speeding together in the oncoming lane, cemet trucks with no headlights at night, tailgating betel nut freaks, even a woman swerving in front of me screaming on her cell phone so loud I could hear her fighting with her hubby.
A purist’s road for the truly terrible Taiwanese drivers.
Motorbiking in Zhong Shan N Rd, Taipei, always frightens me to death. It’s OK in a car, but get on two wheels and the buses’ll kill you.
The number 9 from Hualian up to Yilan…
Gets my vote for the combination of tragedy and insanity that only the Taiwanese could create/tolerate…
A jaw droppingly gorgeous road, with sheer cliffs rising directly out of the clean blue Pacific ocean… One of the few truly beautiful areas in an otherwise pig ugly island…
On which binglang and whisby drenched inbred cretins race lumbering, filth belching gravel trucks up to and beyond the very edge of vehicle control. Driving in mini convoys of three of four trucks next to each other blocking the entire road, even when there are two lanes… overtaking each other around blind corners with utter impunity for any oncoming traffic, drenching the road in a layer of fetid filthy water from liquid cooled brakes creating a slippery, toxic sludge cocktail as it mixes with the cement dust and exhaust filth, making the road treacherously slippery and spraying up and coating every part of your vehicle and person with a slightly corrosive layer of muddy filth that is almost impossible to wash off… Add to that the massive weight of the illegally overloaded trucks passing at a rate of about 55 trucks per hour on most days, especially weekends, gouging huge dangerous trenches into the already badly surfaced road, and tearing large potholes out of the road surface often at crucial and dangerous corners…
Take something unique, beautiful and rare and destroy it with putrid filth and reckless irresponsibility in the name a making a quick buck… The true nature of the Taiwanese people shining through… Naruwan…
[quote=“Bubba 2 Guns”]My vote goes for Bei Yi Gong . North 1 Highway of Death. I’ve seen it all: 3 trucks speeding together in the oncoming lane, cemet trucks with no headlights at night, tailgating betel nut freaks, even a woman swerving in front of me screaming on her cell phone so loud I could hear her fighting with her hubby.
A purist’s road for the truly terrible Taiwanese drivers.[/quote]
I agree, the “ghost road” as the locals call it takes first prize.
As for the Suao gong lou, I have a routine down pat. Once I get past Taroko going south, I pull into the first gas station I see and hose down the bike. Plasmatron described the crap that comes off it perfectly. I then head into the restroom, strong soap in hand and spend a good 15 minutes trying to wash off the filth.
Despite the grime it’s still one of the most beautiful roads I’ve ever been on. I find I’m far more frustrated with the gravel trucks while driving than riding.
Once the new 5 connector goes through to Ilan, the number of meth-amped truckers and incompetent city drivers should be reduced on the Bei yi gong lou to virtually zero :bravo:
If there’s one road in Taiwan that will flatten me, it’s the scooter lane on Zhonggang Lu in Taizhong right around Donghai University.
You’ve got one and a third lanes to work. On the right there are a bunch of parallel parked cars so if you’re not dealing with someone trying to get out of their parking spot, you’re dealing with someone trying to pull onto that lane who can’t see over the parked cars. To make it even worse, the road curves to the right for most of this section so you can’t see too far ahead of you.
But if you even think about riding in that one main lane on the left, you’ll get flattened by one of those 巨業 buses either as they try to race past you or when they suddenly slow down to and cut you off to pick up some passengers.
And I third that suggestion about Highway 9 between Su’ao and Hualian.
The road from Hsintien to Wulai is a killer. Numerous times I’ve been on it and have seen the aftermath of some hellish collisions. If a scooter or motorcyle is involved it normally is smashed beyond belief with remains strewn for over a hundred meters. There is one traffic signal on the entire 14km stretch and a lot of people simply ignore it. Some people on this road are just too impatient and pass cars on blind corners or at very high speed. Some try to pass several vehicles in one straightaway.
There is always dangerous driving on this road forcing you to be extra careful or giving you some unwanted tension.
The North Cross island highway on weekends…
Busses on an road not designed for anything bigger than a car - people taking over on blind corners. Once nearly pushed into the abyss by a bus right after baling.
People parking on blind turns.
The scenery is OK though.
Also, I tried the Beiyi highway one Friday night.
Not that bad?!?
Nary a car in sight.
[quote=“Mr He”]The North Cross island highway on weekends…
Busses on an road not designed for anything bigger than a car - people taking over on blind corners. Once nearly pushed into the abyss by a bus right after baling.
People parking on blind turns.
The scenery is OK though.
Also, I tried the Beiyi highway one Friday night.
Not that bad?!?
Nary a car in sight.[/quote]
Many Taiwanese won’t travel Beiyi at night…They think the place is haunted and for good reason. Where else can you see paper money littering virtually the entire route?
Well… There’s your trick to get over beiyi in one piece. Go late at night. All the crazies will stay at home as they are afraid of ghosts.
Excellent example on p1 of Apple Daily of why to be very frightened of buses. Bus driver pissed (160mg/100ml - twice UK limit), on phone, and wouldn’t slow down despite being asked to by passengers.
I love the “motorcycle lanes”. Love to have been at that meeting…
“Where can we force the bikes to go that would be most dangerous for them?”
“Well, Bob, I’ve always wanted to put them in the right hand lane so taxis and buses, which as you know drive in a zig-zag right to left, left to right pattern, can hit them both ways.”
“Fuck me Frank - that’s a great idea! If we do it just right we might also get to see them plough into vehicles joining the road from the right, too! I mean, with parked cars on your right, and a huge bus on your left pulling in, what can they do? They’ll just have to T-bone the guy pulling into the road. Awesome. All in favour?”
“AYE!”
“Right. Where’s my driver? I’m off to Linsen Bei Lu”
The No.1 highway between Tainan and Kaoshiung always made me feel lucky to be alive once I’d reached either end.
But, in the North, while perhaps not the worst:
Waiting for the endless light to change on Chengde Road, sec. 5 where the scooters continuing downtown have to wait between the cars/trucks/buses whizzing by on one side and the scooters going to the Bailing bridge on the other doesn’t inspire confidence.
Particularly in view of the fact that two of the eight or so recently installed yellow plastic “safety” batons have been obliterated by some kind of vehicle or mishap.
#1 hiway between Chang/hua and Tai/chung is a riot on a motorcycle. Haven’t done it in years now but the thought of that on a rainy Friday evening gives me shivers.
I vote for route 8 in Taizhong/Nantou counties(It’s a great road in Hualian County) or route 7甲 in Taizhong(It’s nice in Ilan, You know you’re in Taizhong when it goes to shit). I did both on a motorcycle from Taipei to Hualian. I’ll be taking a Airbus next time with my scooter onboard.
Route 8 was still damaged after Typhoon Mindulle and a complete wreck. 20-50 foot sections would be sunk down by 1-2 feet sort of like a box that you fell in. Blind curves, sheer drops, idiot drivers made this a road that I will never take again in Taizhong and Nantou counties. The one pleasent thing about my trip is that there was a lot of fog so I didn’t get to see how sheer the dropd were.
Route 7甲 is a great road in Ilan and goes to hell in Taizhong all the way to Lisheng(sp?). This is where they grow a lot of cabbage and onions and it smells like fertilizer for most of the ride. It’s a beautiful area and there are some scenic spots. You deal with cabbage and fertilizer loaded trucks doing what these idiots normally do. Whne you start getting up into the mountains the raods start screwing up and have ruts, cracks, don’t exist in some places, and other various unpleasentries. You also can see what a mountain looks like covered in peach and plum trees.
CYA
Okami
[quote=“Okami”]I vote for route 8 in Taizhong/Nantou counties(It’s a great road in Hualian County)…
Route 8 was still damaged after Typhoon Mindulle and a complete wreck. 20-50 foot sections would be sunk down by 1-2 feet sort of like a box that you fell in. Blind curves, sheer drops, idiot drivers made this a road that I will never take again in Taizhong and Nantou counties. The one pleasent thing about my trip is that there was a lot of fog so I didn’t get to see how sheer the dropd were.[/quote]
Route 8 doesn’t go through Nantou County – it’s straight from Taichung to Hualian. I would be very surprised if you had done this route any time in the last four years because the section from Guguan to Lishan has been closed since the big earthquake. Come to think of it, that might explain the bad road conditions you were experiencing! 
What you probably mean is that you took the 14 through Puli up to Wushe then the 14甲 up to Dayuling where you joined the no 8 and took that down through Taroko to Hualian – the “New Central Cross-Island Highway” in other words.
I haven’t been up that way since February, but even without the typhoon damage I’m not keen on the sections from Caotvn to Qingjing Farm. If there’s not much traffic it’s fine but when there is traffic it tends to be pushy and ill-mannered – almost as bad as on the Suao-Hualian road. (Actually I don’t find the gravel trucks to be too bad there; the worst offenders are the tourist vehicles that get in between them).
[quote=“Okami”]Route 7甲 is a great road in Ilan (Yilan) and goes to hell in Taizhong all the way to Lisheng(sp?). This is where they grow a lot of cabbage and onions and it smells like fertilizer for most of the ride. It’s a beautiful area and there are some scenic spots. You deal with cabbage and fertilizer loaded trucks doing what these idiots normally do. Whne you start getting up into the mountains the raods start screwing up and have ruts, cracks, don’t exist in some places, and other various unpleasentries. You also can see what a mountain looks like covered in peach and plum trees.[/quote]It’s Lishan (Pear Mountain). My map has it as the plain no. 7 without the 甲. I’ve wanted to do that road for ages but haven’t got round to it yet.
I agree that the number 9, Beiyi Rd, is nasty.
For inner-city streets, how about Zhulin Rd in Yong He. I bumpoed into a friend their yesterday and said “Isn’t this an awful road?”. “Worst in Taipei”, he replied, making me instantly think of this thread. It’s one of those Rds (Dingzhou Rd and Shida Rd also spring to mind) which everry 10M or so will have someone jaywalking, a bus pulling in, a car u-turning, a motorcycle crossing form lane to lane, a car on the wrong sidfe of the Rd, passing the bus etc etc.
Another nasty is that awful little motorcycle-only speedway along the riverside (actually outside the river wall) that goes form about Minsheng W Rd to somewhere in Wanhua). I’ve tried to cycle that with speeding rushg hour scooters, pollution so thick you can hardly see and an ambulance desperately trying to get through.
Brian
That was the first road I ever rode on here in Taiwan, on the first motorcycle I had here, a purple Honda custom, the kind with no disc brakes and a boxy speedo.
Driving from Taitung back to my wife’s hometown of Fongyuan, we took highway 9 down the east coast and across to highway 1 up the west coast. The section of highway 9 that crosses east to west from Dawu to Fengkang is absolutely the worst I have ever driven anywhere in the world. Looks like they are in the process of resurfacing this section. Right now the top layer of pavement has been ground away, leaving a rough surface full of potholes for miles and miles. To make it even worse, I had to follow a tour bus the entire way, with no hope of passing. It was a joy to get on Freeway 1 after that trip.
[quote=“ShaoPang”]The section of highway 9 that crosses east to west from Dawu to Fengkang is absolutely the worst I have ever driven anywhere in the world. Looks like they are in the process of resurfacing this section.[/quote]I enjoyed that section a year and a half ago. Let’s hope they finish resurfacing it soon.
I drove over the Beiheng on Thursday. From Dashi was a nightmare, with landslips every kilometer or so. Took forever to wait for the backhoes to get out of the way. All because of the intensive farming up there. Over past Baling it was wonderful, however. No sun on that side, so no farming and no villages all the way down to the Ilan river valley. The road was beautiful – smooth and well-marked and you could tell it hadn’t been repaired for a long, long time. Very little traffic, either.
I don’t think you or anyone else will be doing this drive again anytime soon… 