Mount Blue Sky Road: The Highest Paved Road in North America
Colorado Highway 5, formerly Mount Evans Road — the highest paved road in North America, reaching 14,130 ft. Narrow with hairpin turns and no guardrails on the upper section between Echo Lake and the summit.
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Closed for a multi-year improvement project through 2025; scheduled to reopen for the 2026 season around Memorial Day weekend, timed entry and a reservation required in season. This is a seasonal high-altitude road, not a year-round route — check current status and the reservation system before a trip. Check current access · Reviewed 2026-09-22
Planning the drive
Colorado Highway 5 is the highest paved road in North America, and our own mapped trace tops out at 13,674 ft — within reach of the 14,130 ft summit itself. 39 counted bends and 14 switchbacks over 12.8 miles at a moderate 6.1% maximum grade means the difficulty here isn't tight technical corners, it's altitude and exposure: no guardrails on the upper section, thin air that affects both car and driver, and weather that can turn fast at 13,000+ ft even in summer. Wikipedia: Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway
This road was closed for a multi-year improvement project through all of 2025 and is scheduled to reopen for the 2026 season around Memorial Day weekend, with timed entry and a reservation required in season — this is not a spontaneous drive-up road anymore. The mountain itself was renamed from Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky in 2023, and CDOT has been updating signage and the highway's own name to match; expect to see both names still in use. Check current status and the reservation system before planning a trip. US Forest Service: Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area & Scenic Byway
Roads to connect
Driving notes updated .
Road shape
- Length
- 12.8 mi
- Bends
- 39
- Switchbacks
- 14
- Bends per mile
- 3.1
- Turning per mile
- 405°
- Curviest rank
- 79of 152
Measured from the OpenStreetMap centreline at a 20 m sampling step — road shape only, not a safety or speed judgement. How bends are counted.
Elevation
- Total climb
- 3,256ft
- Climb per mile
- 254ft
- Highest point
- 13,674ft
- Steepest grade
- 6.1%
Sampled every 100 m from USGS 10 m elevation data, a public-domain federal dataset. Total climb counts vertical change in both directions, so it does not depend on which way you drive. How elevation is measured.
Speed limits
Varies
Unverified
Check posted signs along the road.
No reliable posted limit was found for this selected section. Follow current signs.
Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.
Sources
Difficulty 3/3 (Demanding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Technical” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:
- Wikipedia: Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway
- CDOT: Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans)
- OpenStreetMap road data (1 ways in this trace)
Reviewed 2026-09-17. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.
Roads nearby
Distances are approximate straight lines between road centers, not driving distances or direct connections.