Off-route routings

[webny99]

When a route goes to two places, but yet the fastest way between the two places involves other routes.
Let's say no parallel corridors, such as US-11 and I-81, because, obviously, the interstate is faster. The two routes must diverge from each other by at least three miles.

One example of this is Victor, NY to Ithaca, NY. NY-96 goes to both, but it's faster to take the thruway and then NY-14 and NY-96A.

[wxfree]

The example that first comes to mind is FM 1434 in Texas.  I like that this road is this way, because as a farm to market road it's intended to provide access via a paved road between rural areas and nearby cities (or highways to them).  The road is a reasonably good, or at least justifiable, part of the area's network, but it's routed in a roundabout way that isn't meant to direct but to connect to other roads.  The shortest distance from one end to the other uses no part of the road itself; it's by Park Road 21 and US 67, which Google Maps says is 7.4 miles.  The distance along the road from one end to the other is a significantly longer 17.3 miles.  The road does what it's meant to do quite well, but there's no reason (other than non-stop clinching) to drive the whole route non-stop.

Here's a map.  The quicker route is obvious on the map.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/32.2524381,-97.5474868/32.3194116,-97.4578796/@32.2742323,-97.5444299,12z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d-97.5239417!2d32.2180711!3s0x864e3400bc159cf3:0xcef47b5efe04ec01!1m0!3e2?hl=en

[jp the roadgeek]

There are so many answers to this, but here's a few examples:

Sault St. Marie to Miami: I-75 runs between both.  Answer is I-75 most of the way, but Florida's Turnpike to FL 826 is quicker at the southern end

Houlton, ME to Miami (I-95):  NJTP is quicker than taking I-95 through Philly (or around Trenton)

Chicago to New Orleans (I-55): I-57 is more direct route from Chicago to Sikeston, MO

Billings, MT to Port Huron, MI (I-94): I-90 is quicker between Billings and Wisconsin, as well as from Chicago to Michigan City (the hypotenuse would be quicker still ), I-69 is quicker in MI

Bronx, NY to Champlain, NY (I-87): Quicker to take GWB to NJ 4 West to NJ 17 North and rejoin I-87 in Suffern.

Edison, NJ to Rye, NY (I-287); and Linden, NJ to Bronx, NY (I-278): I-95 is much quicker.

And a couple of New England multi-state routes:

CT/MA/NH 10: I-91 North to US 302 East is easier from New Haven to Woodsville

CT/MA/NH/VT 12: I-95 South to CT 85 North CT 82 West to CT 11 North to CT 2 West to I-84 West to I-91 North to I-89 North to VT 100 North is quicker.

CT/MA/NH 32: Same as Route 12 above from New London Brattleboro, VT, then VT/NH 9 East to Keene

[Bickendan]

Portland-Boise: Of the three choices, one is the go-to route (though it doesnt hit dowtown Boise).

[hotdogPi]

I would say that most routes are not the fastest way to get between the two endpoints. In my area, MA 1A, 2A, 3A, 4, 27, 28, 38, 62, 97, 110, 113, 125, 127, 127A, 129, 133, and 225 have faster alternatives. The only non-freeways in this same area that I didn't list were 22, 35, 107, 108, 114, 129A, 150, and 286.

[7/8]

Port Huron, MI to Indianapolis (I-94>I-75>US 24 is faster than I-69)
Woodstock, ON to Long Point, ON (CR 59>CR 13>CR 59 is faster than CR 59)
Cayuga, ON to Dunnville, ON (CR 17>ON 3 is faster than ON 3)

[PHLBOS]

Houlton, ME to Miami (I-95):  NJTP is quicker than taking I-95 through Philly (or around Trenton)

If one's coming from the NYC area and points further south to either the immediate Boston area, NH or Maine; they're better off bypassing I-95 along the CT coast & all of RI (example using I-91/84/90 for Boston or I-91/84/90/290/495 for NH)

[bzakharin]

Houlton, ME to Miami (I-95):  NJTP is quicker than taking I-95 through Philly (or around Trenton)

Don't forget I-495 to I-84 to I-91 to bypass the (outskirts of) Boston, Rhode Island, and New London, CT

Any US route (or any non-freeway) that shadows an Interstate (or any freeway) would qualify as well.

[PHLBOS]

Houlton, ME to Miami (I-95):  NJTP is quicker than taking I-95 through Philly (or around Trenton)

Don't forget I-495 to I-84 to I-91 to bypass the (outskirts of) Boston, Rhode Island, and New London, CT

Forgive me but did you not see the post above yours?  I posted it nearly 2-1/2 hours earlier (see repost below)?

If one's coming from the NYC area and points further south to either the immediate Boston area, NH or Maine; they're better off bypassing I-95 along the CT coast & all of RI (example using I-91/84/90 for Boston or I-91/84/90/290/495 for NH)

[NE2]

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9247
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9540

[bzakharin]

Houlton, ME to Miami (I-95):  NJTP is quicker than taking I-95 through Philly (or around Trenton)

Don't forget I-495 to I-84 to I-91 to bypass the (outskirts of) Boston, Rhode Island, and New London, CT

Forgive me but did you not see the post above yours?  I posted it nearly 2-1/2 hours earlier (see repost below)?

If one's coming from the NYC area and points further south to either the immediate Boston area, NH or Maine; they're better off bypassing I-95 along the CT coast & all of RI (example using I-91/84/90 for Boston or I-91/84/90/290/495 for NH)

Have no idea how I missed that

[sparker]

So far nobody's mentioned the classic:  PA 272 vs. US 222 from Wakefield to Refton, PA on the corridor between Conowingo, MD and Lancaster, PA.  US 222 serves the endpoints, but PA 272 is the more direct route, as 222 veers east to function as a local "connect-the-dots" route between small regional towns, it's about 5-7 miles east of the through 272 routing.

[PHLBOS]

For those traveling between southeastern PA and points south of Wilmington, DE; I-495 is used (& signed for through-traffic) en lieu of continuing along I-95 through Wilmington.

[NE2]

So far nobody's mentioned the classic:  PA 272 vs. US 222 from Wakefield to Refton, PA on the corridor between Conowingo, MD and Lancaster, PA.  US 222 serves the endpoints, but PA 272 is the more direct route, as 222 veers east to function as a local "connect-the-dots" route between small regional towns, it's about 5-7 miles east of the through 272 routing.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9540

[michravera]

Cases where both endpoints are on the same road (or route number) but the fastest route between the two involves traveling on other routes the majority of the time.

For example, Victor, NY, to Ithaca, NY.
NY 96 passes through both, but to get to Ithaca you would take the Thruway, NY 14, NY 5&20, and NY 96A.

EDIT: two parallel corridors, such as I-81 and US-11, do not qualify for obvious reasons.

A major example occurs with just about any places in California on US-101 or CASR-1 that are more than a couple hundred km apart.
Certainly, from the Downtown interchange, I-5 will get you to any place north of Gilroy much faster than US-101. That's probably even true for quite some distance along US-101 at least into Ventura county.

The champion is going to be US-50 from West Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, MD. I am pretty sure that I-80 and I-70 will make the trip about 14 hours faster and probably about 1000 km shorter. In fact, GoogleMaps gets you off of US-50 every chance it gets, even if you force it onto US-50.

[hotdogPi]

NH/ME 16 is 331 miles (150 in New Hampshire and 181 in Maine) between the two times when it hits I-95 (ME 16 continues a little further). I-95 in this area is only 202 miles. They're nowhere near parallel.

So that's 331 miles on a surface road versus 202 miles on a freeway.

[kkt]

The champion is going to be US-50 from West Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, MD. I am pretty sure that I-80 and I-70 will make the trip about 14 hours faster and probably about 1000 km shorter. In fact, GoogleMaps gets you off of US-50 every chance it gets, even if you force it onto US-50.

Or possibly US 2 from Houlton, Maine, to Everett, Washington, rather than I-95, I-90, I-5.

[Sykotyk]

Well, routing software rated for general ease of travel (both time and mileage factored together), is going to route to a freeway at almost every opportunity.

Where it gets screwy is when it routes you OFF a freeway sometimes. I-90 between Seattle and Chicago is probably best served either via I-94 between Tomah, WI and Billings, MT. OR, for about 20 miles shorter, take SD34 to US85 to US212 to Crow Agency, Montana and get back onto I-90.

It's 34 miles longer to stay on I-90 than to take I-94. And it's 55 miles longer than taking the US212 shortcut. I've gone both ways. With a 65mph speed limit through Montana (daytime), you really don't lose time. There's a left turn in Broadus, a stop sign in Lame Deer, and a few lights in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.

[US 89]

Myrtle Beach SC to Elizabeth City NC. Both are on US 17, but it is faster to go inland and use I-95 and US 64 rather than take 17 through Wilmington.

[CtrlAltDel]

Another couple of commonly cited ones are

I-10 through Louisiana, in that it's usually faster to cut across on I-12.

I-75 through Georgia, in that it's usually faster to take I-475 around Macon.

[peterj920]

WIS 129 provides a bypass for US 61 of Lancaster, WI and is 2 miles shorter along with avoiding slow urban speed limits. 

[7/8]

Port Huron, MI to Jackson, MI (it's faster to take I-94>I-696>I-275>M-14>I-94 than sticking to I-94)

[jeffandnicole]

Taking NJ 47 from the Brooklawn Circle to Wildwood, one can jump on NJ 55 to bypass much of it, then after reconnecting with 47, take 347 and bypass another 20 minutes or so of 47, before rejoining it again.

[Sykotyk]

Some bypass shortcuts.

I-270 and MO370 for I-70 around St. Louis.
I-670 through downtown Kansas City instead of I-70.

At least eastbound: I-80 between Des Moines and Indiana, it's easier to take I-280 around the quad cities, because of the aggravating cloverleaf interchange I-80 has with itself east of town.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

WIS 93 is advertised as a faster route between La Crosse and Eau Claire than US 53, but the savings in time and distance are literally nothing.