Routing suggestions please...

[cjk374]

I am planning a road trip from my home in Louisiana to Great Falls, MT.  Our 1st stop will be Anthony, KS, & that route is pretty much set.  It's from Anthony to Great Falls that I need some suggestions.

According to MapQuest, it says I should go:

1) up to I-70 west to Denver
2) up I-25 through Casper & Cheyenne to I-90/I-15 (this part is me trying to remember what I just saw. If I'm off I apologize)
3) up to Billings to run US 12->US 191->US 87 to G.F.

I found 2 alternate routes.  This one avoids Denver, which sounds good to avoid a big city:
I-70 ->Hays, KS/US 183 -> I-80 -> Cheyenne:  It's only 2 miles & 27 minutes longer (according to MQ) than going through Denver.

The other route change I was looking at was running from Billings to G.F. on US 87 up & over.  This route is 9 miles longer than step #3 listed above. 

Which is more scenic?  Has more services?  Is a better over-all route to take?  May need a nice-yet-cheap motel along the way.  Where & who is the motel?  Good food with local flavor as well.

Thank you in advance for all responses.

[situveux1]

When my sister-in-law lived in Jackson Hole, WY, we would always go north on 183 to I-80 in Nebraska and then west. I work in Phillipsburg every now and then and I really enjoy the scenery, especially between Stockton and Phillipsburg. It's pretty much exactly 2 hours from Hays to I-80. You'd also avoid the E-470 toll that way, and a lot of traffic. We did E-470 to I-25 to Cheyenne once and I didn't notice a time difference, but I did notice the toll and a lot more traffic on I-25.

But I'm biased, I'll almost always pick a 2 lane if given a choice.

[cjk374]

I like 2-lane roads also. I want to avoid tolls as well. Are any of these places I'm looking to drive through notorious speed traps?

What are the speed limits on 2-lane roads in NE, WY, & MT?

[situveux1]

No speed traps that I know of, although I've been told Nebraska is hard on out-of-staters. I've never actually gotten a ticket in Nebraska, so I can't say... But I have gotten a ticket in Denver, so there you go.

I do 72 all the way. The speed limit is 65 mph all the way from Hays to I-80. A lot of 2 lanes in Nebraska are 60 or 55, but I think they're usually in the east.

[cjk374]

I also found another route change that, according to MQ, will shave 30 miles off of the trip, but adds 16 minutes:

What if I exited off of I-80 @ Sydney, NE onto US 385 toward Scottsbluff & catch US 26 to I-25 between Guernsey & Wheatland, WY?  How is that route?

[NE2]

I also found another route change that, according to MQ, will shave 30 miles off of the trip, but adds 16 minutes:

What if I exited off of I-80 @ Sydney, NE onto US 385 toward Scottsbluff & catch US 26 to I-25 between Guernsey & Wheatland, WY?  How is that route?

Exit at Kimball, NE - N-71 is four lanes to Scottsbluff. Then US 26 is partly four lanes and the remainder is likely fast empty two lanes.

[J N Winkler]

In twenty years of driving, I have driven in five countries and been pulled over by uniformed police officers in all five, but the one and only ticket I ever received for a motoring offense was in Kansas.  We are very hard on both residents and out-of-staters.

I would not recommend exceeding rural speed limits in either Kansas or Nebraska.  In Kansas even 4 MPH over will attract Highway Patrol attention, and in Nebraska the two-lane state highways have not had their alignments or cross-sections as aggressively updated as in Kansas.

For US 183 in Kansas and Nebraska, Google StreetView reports 65 MPH on both sides of the state line.  The dogleg connection between I-70 and I-80 can also be made via US 283, but I wouldn't recommend it if timekeeping were a factor since the speed limit in Nebraska is 60 MPH (or at least it was when I drove it in 2003).  There is also a tradeoff to consider between Denver urban traffic (I-70 and I-25 in and out avoids E-470 tolls) and high truck volumes on rural I-80 in Nebraska.

The distance between Anthony, Kansas and Great Falls, Montana is around 1300 miles depending on route.  Google Maps' suggested itinerary (two-lane to I-70, I-25, I-90, etc., for a total of 1279 miles) is mostly Interstate and represents a plausible minimum travel time.  A cutoff via K-25 and US 26 (leaving the Interstate network at Colby and rejoining just north of Wheatland, Wyoming) cuts 49 miles and allows visits to Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff National Monument, but adds almost an hour of driving time.

Because the distance between the two cities is so long, there are many possible alternate itineraries which follow two-lane roads, but I am reasonably sure none of these will be able to compete with a mostly-Interstate routing on time.

[J N Winkler]

I also found another route change that, according to MQ, will shave 30 miles off of the trip, but adds 16 minutes:

What if I exited off of I-80 @ Sidney, NE onto US 385 toward Scottsbluff & catch US 26 to I-25 between Guernsey & Wheatland, WY?  How is that route?

Exit at Kimball, NE - N-71 is four lanes to Scottsbluff. Then US 26 is partly four lanes and the remainder is likely fast empty two lanes.

Actually, if you are going to stay on I-80 as far as Sidney, it makes more sense just to do the long way round via I-80 and I-25.  For an Ogallala, Nebraska to Douglas, Wyoming itinerary Google Maps recommends I-80 and I-25 as the shortest in terms of time, but the full US 26 cutoff (for which you have to exit I-80 at Ogallala) is 51 miles shorter and just 1 minute longer.  The N-71 four-lane is only 20 miles shorter, and takes 12 minutes longer.  US 385 is 30 miles shorter but takes 13 minutes longer.

I have driven US 26 between Ogallala and I-25, except for the dogleg through Bayard where the cutoff route actually follows N-92.  It is generally a good driving route, but it is actually pretty busy between Scottsbluff and Torrington.  It makes no sense to skip the distance savings (and chance to see Chimney Rock) between Ogallala and Scottsbluff, and then hop on it just in time for a few dozen miles of platoon driving.

[corco]

Actually, if 26 is an option (and it really should be- that's a lot better than going to Sidney or Cheyenne), this will take longer but would avoid the really shitty drive from Scottsbluff to Lingle and be quite scenic- take N-29 up to US-20 from Mitchell. It is longer, but 29 is a really fun drive and the speed limit, I believe, is 60 (I last drove it in November 2010). Then I find 20 to be a more interesting route than 26 from Nebraska to I-25 anyway. It is an extra 25 miles and you still have to go all the way through Scottsbluff, but I'd say the scenery payoff is worth the extra 30 minutes if time isn't a hugely pressing factor.

I will say that if you're straight comparing 26->25 and I-80 to I-25 on scenery, I'd actually probably go I-80 to I-25- 25 from Cheyenne north is actually quite scenic because you're right on the edge of the Snowys - 26 does have Chimney Rock, but otherwise it's a fairly boring drive. There's pretty much no traffic on I-25- I wouldn't be shocked to hear that there's more traffic on 26 through Nebraska than 25 from Cheyenne to Wheatland.

Also, once you're in Montana just follow Montana 3 from Billings to Great Falls.  Most of it is concurrent with those US routes, but you do catch 12 a bit further east. The speed limit is pretty much a blanket 70 on the two lanes in Montana, except in high touristy areas.  You're out in the high plains and there's no towns out there, so it moves very quickly.

[Milepost61]

No speed traps that I know of, although I've been told Nebraska is hard on out-of-staters. I've never actually gotten a ticket in Nebraska, so I can't say... But I have gotten a ticket in Denver, so there you go.

I do 72 all the way. The speed limit is 65 mph all the way from Hays to I-80. A lot of 2 lanes in Nebraska are 60 or 55, but I think they're usually in the east.

The 2-laners I've been on in western Nebraska have all been 60mph, so I think it's more unusual for them to be >60 than not.

[J N Winkler]

N-29 does have prime Sandhills scenery and the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.  Plus, in addition to being significantly less busy than US 26, US 20 has interesting limestone bluffs near Fort Robinson and passes by Lost Springs, Wyoming, whose population has fluctuated from 1 to 4 over the past decade.

Compared to the I-80/I-25 route (Ogallala-Douglas), the N-29 route (per Google Maps) is 26 miles shorter and only 27 minutes longer.  I'd say the scenery is worth it, but YMMV.

[J N Winkler]

The 2-laners I've been on in western Nebraska have all been 60 mph, so I think it's more unusual for them to be >60 than not.

There are a lot of 60 MPH state highways in western Nebraska, but N-2, US 385, and US 20 all have extended sections of 65 MPH.  Sometimes speed limits go up when NDOR carries out relocations--they got rid of the Julian curves on US 75 between Auburn and Nebraska City (where US 75 used to "jump" from one north-south section-line road to the next one west) and the speed limit went up from 55 to 65 MPH as a result.  NDOR has done a lot of work on US 83 and N-61 in western Nebraska in the last few years.

[situveux1]

Leaving I-70 at Colby and going north on K-25 is another good suggestion. My brother and his family went to Ogallala this summer and took that route to avoid construction on 183 and 80 west of Kearney. He said it was 65 mph all the way and they made good time. Plus it'd give you more miles on I-70 versus 80. I haven't been west of Kearney on 80 in a while, but the truck traffic east of there was awful this summer when we went to Omaha. The great thing is, no matter what you pick, you could always take a different way home!

[corco]

80 isn't bad west of North Platte or so and opens up completely west of I-76. Personally I like the scenery better on I-80 at that longitude (I-80 is better in the west part of the state, I-70 is better in the east) but either way you're talking pretty boring "scenery."

That said, I like that 25 suggestion- I haven't driven 25 but I've intersected it at N-23, US-6, and US-36 and that seems like a nice part of that area. At the very least you can still go fast but the road isn't as built so it's at least more interesting than I-70 or I-80 or even US-183. 83 is eh...a lot of trucks, I'd stick with 25 if you're shooting north in that area.

If you're into signgeeking, you could even stay on I-70 all the way to US-385 in Colorado and then cut north on 385. There's a cutout US-138 shield in downtown Julesburg.  If you did that, you could take the road north out of Julesburg- it's county road once you get to Nebraska until I-80, but I-80 isn't very far and then hook up with N-27 and take that up to 26. 27 is a good road. I probably wouldn't do that unless you're obsessed with the idea of seeing a cutout in the wild though- there's really nothing else along that drive.