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What is this type of road called in English?

Im looking for a word or a phrase for describing this kind of road which usually is constructed in the mountain areas, but not only:

image a representative sample from Google images, query = transfagarasan

In my language we call this serpentine a word used as a noun (not adjective) to describe its shape.

If I wanted to write an article about this road, a road constructed in the mountains provided with many turns and angles like in the above link,
which word would be more appropriate to use?

word-request phrase-request

edited Jan 13 '15 at 0:00 asked Jan 12 '15 at 7:49

dramzy Lucian Sava
149 5 7,925 8 21 55

Incidentally, in Russian it is also "serpantin", but the Wikipedia article has no interwiki links. CowperKettle Jan 12
'15 at 8:08

2 Road names differ quite a bit between English speaking countries - do you have a particular audience in mind? Dan
Jan 12 '15 at 10:16

@Dan, I would like to know it in general, not for a particular area or country. Lucian Sava Jan 12 '15 at 10:24

1 @LucianSava That's kind of the problem. The top rated answer doesn't really work in England - I've never heard
anyone refer to "serpentine" or "switchback", although people could probably work it out. Dan Jan 12 '15 at 10:26

@Dan, thank you for your input. Then the issue is way broader than I thought. Lucian Sava Jan 12 '15 at 10:37

Well, you could use a metaphor, like the road twisted itself (uphill) like a... user6951 Jan 12 '15 at 18:47

The road double backed upon itself 44 times as it zigzaged up the mountain. Or use switchback, and let readers look
the word up. At least you are using it correctly. Or serpentine. user6951 Jan 12 '15 at 18:57

3 @Dan Is there a name that is commonly used for this type of road in BrE? Switchback is very common in AmE for
hiking trails and roads that wind back and forth on themselves to make ascent/descent easier. I can find switchback
used on a number of hiking sites in the UK, but not for roads. Jason Patterson Jan 13 '15 at 0:10

3 The road in the picture is described with these words on Wikipedia: "The most spectacular route is from the North to
South. It is a winding road, dotted with steep hairpin turns, long S-curves, and sharp descents." Winding road search
on Google images. mins Jan 13 '15 at 7:05

'Snaking' up (or down) the hill. xcxc Jan 13 '15 at 8:03

1 @mins - Funny, though, how the images for winding road have much gentler curves that the images for serpentine
road. As your Wikipedia quote suggests, the term winding road doesn't say enough in and of itself. J.R. Jan 13
'15 at 9:20

@J.R. Agreed Jason! In French we have something very specific for a road with hairpin turns: 'une route en lacets'
(literally: 'a road made of hairpin turns'), Google search. This expression translates well into 'winding road', according
to Google translate (not my reference, though!). mins Jan 13 '15 at 9:32

1 It's always in mountainous areas, you only need this type of road when the elevation changes quickly. Just call it a
pass as they do here when describing the "sawtooth oscillation of metronomic vacillation, between hairpin bends that
bitch-slap it from zig to zag and back to zig" caranddriver.com/features/ geoO Jan 13 '15 at 19:37

@geoO it's really amazing your link Certainly it is needed when elevation changes but as I specified in my question:

1 din 1 31.05.2017, 16:00