Why Drivers May Want To Avoid The Million Dollar Highway, One Of Colorado's Most Renowned Scenic Roads

Colorado's most scenic stretch of US Highway 550 didn't come to be known as the Million Dollar Highway without cause. Its winding 25-mile route through the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, between the towns of Ouray and Silverton, is so scenic that it feels like it's showing off. But those million-dollar views come at a cost. The Million Dollar Highway is not for the faint of heart, and there are several compelling reasons you might want to rethink adding it to your road trip.

Chief among these reasons is safety. The trade-off for that gorgeous scenery is a sharply curving mountain road with steep grades, sudden drop-offs, and no guardrails or shoulder for much of the route. The Million Dollar Highway is almost as well-known for its terrifying unprotected drop-offs as it is for its views. As such, it's widely considered to be one of the most dangerous drives in the U.S. The Durango Herald reports that an average of seven people die on the route each year, but even for the vast majority of travelers who come through the drive just fine, those conditions can test even the steeliest of nerves.

There's also the seasonal question. All of these safety issues are even more pressing come wintertime, when the region's characteristic heavy snow makes everything that's already dicey about the road even dicier. Some claim that it's called the Million Dollar Highway because you'd have to pay a local resident $1 million to drive it in the snow. Whether that's true or not, it sounds like a sensible explanation when you think about the terrifying combination of icy roads and sheer cliff drop-offs that a winter drive on the Million Dollar Highway brings. Our advice: Table that idea until the snow melts.

Safety concerns on the Million Dollar Highway aren't only geographical, though. The road's tough terrain is made even trickier by the popularity of the route. On a windy two-lane road, it doesn't take much traffic to cause a bottleneck. And like many beautiful places ruined by overtourism, the Million Dollar Highway has become a much more stressful drive as crowds flock to the region. Avoiding weekends in the peak summer and autumn months will likely help you dodge those crowds, but it's something to be aware of. You'll also most probably want to avoid driving at night, when larger vehicles on the road and lower visibility can make traffic jams both worse and more dangerous.

None of this is to say that the Million Dollar Highway isn't worth doing. The endpoint towns — especially "America's Switzerland," the mountain town of Ouray — are worthy destinations in their own right, and the route between them is truly stunning. The highway itself is already known as one of Colorado's prettiest drives. For prepared and cautious drivers, it's often an unforgettable road trip. But it's not one to take lightly, and it behooves potential drivers to know their limits — and the road conditions — before committing. If you are terrified of heights, have little experience driving on sharply curving mountain roads, or see a bad weather forecast on the day of your planned visit, you might want to give this one a pass.