Making the ‘most dangerous road’ safer
Print Edition
WHEN drivers tackle the treacherous road on Quer Mountain in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, they often toss lucky cards into the air to pray for a safe ride.
More than any deity, however, they have a nine-man maintenance crew to thank for a much safer journey on this section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, which was China’s first pathway to Tibet and is considered the country’s most dangerous road.
The Quer Mountain section, said to be the most risky part of the highway, has claimed dozens of lives.
A 7-kilometer-long tunnel through the mountain was finished this month and will open next year, cutting the time it takes to reach the other side from 2 hours to 10 minutes. It will also free drivers from fears of landslides and avalanches, and relieve maintenance workers of an exhausting job.
Their work includes removing debris from frequent cave-ins along the dirt road, clearing garbage and ditches, as well as smoothing the road along a 10km-long loop near Quer’s snow-capped peak at an altitude of about 5,000 meters.
“We take care of the most dangerous parts of the Quer Mountain road,” said Yang Hougang, leader of the maintenance team, adding some spots have nicknames, such as “the ghost beckons,” where frequent avalanches trap vehicles on the narrow road, bounded on one side by a steep cliff, said Yang.
In fact, gridlock lasting for a day or even a week is common due to avalanches, falling rocks, or simply two cars that can’t get past each other on the narrow mountain road. When that happens, drivers and passengers escape to workers’ dorms to eat and spend the chilly night.
The most challenging part for maintenance workers is not the work itself, but the inhospitable environment, which has an average yearly temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius. The area lacks tap water, stable electricity supply and cell phone service.
Most of the workers have followed in the footsteps of their fathers, who were the first group to help to build and maintain the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, which opened in 1951. However, their children are today reluctant to take on the job.
After the tunnel opens, the team will move down the mountain to another section of the highway at an elevation of 4,300 meters. Their new job, taking care of an asphalt road, will be much easier.
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