8 roads · USA

Best driving roads in the USA

8 famous driving roads in the USA, each called corner by corner by Turini’s pace-note engine. On the routes here, the Tail of the Dragon has the most hairpins (21); the Beartooth Highway is the longest at 49.4 km and has the biggest climb, about 1,750 m in all. They are listed by the number of hairpins Turini calls, then by length: a count from the map, not a verdict on which road is best.

The USA, by hairpins

1. 1
   Tail of the DragonUS-129 · Deals Gap · USA18.5 km · 176 calls · 21 hairpins · ↑240 m

   It is billed as 318 curves in 11 miles, and it is a pilgrimage road for motorcyclists and sports-car drivers.

2. 2
   Million Dollar HighwayUS 550 · USA37.8 km · 149 calls · 12 hairpins · ↑1,000 m

   Strictly, the name belongs to the twelve miles south of Ouray through the gorge to the top of Red Mountain Pass: steep cliffs, narrow lanes, hairpins and hardly any guardrails.

3. 3
   Beartooth HighwayUS 212 · USA49.4 km · 127 calls · 11 hairpins · ↑1,750 m

   The CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt called it “the most beautiful drive in America”.

4. 4
   Going-to-the-Sun RoadSun Road · USA34.2 km · 134 calls · 1 hairpin · ↑1,040 m

   Completed in 1933, it is about 50 miles long, narrow and winding, with hairpin turns west of Logan Pass, and is a National Historic Landmark.

5. 5
   Angeles Crest HighwayCA 2 · USA42.4 km · 183 calls · 0 hairpins · ↑1,470 m

   The full highway is 66 miles long, was completed in 1956 and climbs above 7,000 ft, and its curves above La Cañada have long drawn drivers and motorcyclists from Los Angeles.

6. 6
   Cherohala SkywayTN 165 · USA40.4 km · 131 calls · 0 hairpins · ↑1,370 m

   It climbs more than 4,000 ft, to over 5,400 ft near the state line, on long sweeping curves with wide mountain views.

7. 7
   Pacific Coast Highway, Big SurCA 1 · USA37.9 km · 85 calls · 0 hairpins · ↑380 m

   The road runs along cliffs above the Pacific, and the concrete arch of Bixby Creek Bridge, opened in 1932, is the classic photo stop.

8. 8
   Blue Ridge ParkwayUSA18.1 km · 57 calls · 0 hairpins · ↑340 m

   The Linn Cove Viaduct, completed in 1983, carries the road round the face of Grandfather Mountain on a curving 1,243 ft concrete deck.

Counts are from Turini’s pace-note engine on the route shown on each road’s page, which is often one side or one stretch of the road. Climbs come from terrain data.

What the numbers mean

Each corner is called as a direction and a grade from 1 (tightest) to 6 (nearly straight). Hairpins are the turns that double back on themselves. The counts come straight from Turini’s engine reading the OpenStreetMap road, the same calls you hear in the car. The climb (↑) is the height gained over the route, from terrain data. New to it? Read how to read pace notes.

Always drive within the law, the conditions and what you can see. Turini tells you what the map says; the road is what counts.

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