If You Had to Stick to Interstates Between Two Metro Areas...

[JayhawkCO]

So I'm driving out in March to visit my buddy in Vegas for March Madness.  While I like clinching interstates to say I did, obviously they're not always the most exciting drive.  But, I was thinking to myself, at least the stretch between Denver and Las Vegas is probably the most interesting stretch of interstate in the country.  So, I got to wondering which metro areas have the best drive between them.  The only real "rule" I can think of is that you can't pass through a metro area larger than your endpoints.  For example, between Denver and Vegas, you pass through Grand Junction and St. George, but they're obviously much smaller.  But you can't count something like Missoula - Seattle because you'd be passing through Spokane which is larger than Missoula.

Others of note:
Salt Lake City - Portland
San Francisco - Portland
Greenville/Spartanburg - Knoxville
Manchester - Burlington

Any other obvious ones that I'm missing?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Kansas City and St. Louis
Baltimore and Washington
Madison and Milwaukee
Chicago and Des Moines

[JayhawkCO]

I also might be a weirdo, but I liked driving I-80 across Nevada, so I could also add Sacramento - Salt Lake.

[US 89]

Salt Lake City - Portland

I don't know that I can really agree with this. Sure, there are some very scenic parts, but I-84 through the Snake River Plain is sort of the ultimate in boring western interstates.

[GaryV]

Cincinnati to Atlanta goes through some interesting terrain for much of the distance.

Chicago to Memphis is longer, but hardly very interesting.  Likewise for Atlanta to Miami.

[1995hoo]

I very much enjoy I-87 between Albany and Montreal, in either direction, especially in winter. The drive through the Adirondacks is very scenic.

[JayhawkCO]

Salt Lake City - Portland

I don't know that I can really agree with this. Sure, there are some very scenic parts, but I-84 through the Snake River Plain is sort of the ultimate in boring western interstates.

Maybe I should just limit this to Boise - Portland.  I know eastern Oregon also isn't the most exciting, but I figure that the Columbia River Gorge would have to be included somehow.

[webny99]

I very much enjoy I-87 between Albany and Montreal, in either direction, especially in winter. The drive through the Adirondacks is very scenic.

Agreed, although I'd pick fall over winter.

[JayhawkCO]

Cincinnati to Atlanta goes through some interesting terrain for much of the distance.

Agreed.  I like this drive quite a bit.

[1995hoo]

I very much enjoy I-87 between Albany and Montreal, in either direction, especially in winter. The drive through the Adirondacks is very scenic.

Agreed, although I'd pick fall over winter.

I can understand that. I like winter because I just really like the frozen formations you see hanging from the rocks along the sides of the road and things like that. You don't see much of that as you get further south below Albany, but you can see fall foliage in a lot of places.

[Roadgeekteen]

Kansas City to Denver- but only for me who has only been west of the Appalachians twice in my life.

[JayhawkCO]

Kansas City to Denver- but only for me who has only been west of the Appalachians twice in my life.

Driven this 50 times.  No thanks. 

[doorknob60]

Salt Lake City - Portland

I don't know that I can really agree with this. Sure, there are some very scenic parts, but I-84 through the Snake River Plain is sort of the ultimate in boring western interstates.

Maybe I should just limit this to Boise - Portland.  I know eastern Oregon also isn't the most exciting, but I figure that the Columbia River Gorge would have to be included somehow.

I make this drive fairly often, I'd say about 80% of it is at least somewhat scenic/interesting, with a few parts that are very nice (eg. western Gorge and Pendleton to La Grande). I actually really like the Ontario to Baker City section for example, lots of interesting terrain and it's the most remote section of interstate in Oregon. The only part I really don't like is from Pendleton to Boardman. If the speed limit was 80 there it wouldn't feel quite as bad.

For some reason, I actually don't mind I-84 from Boise to Salt Lake City too much, even though on paper it's boring. Boise to Mountain Home is probably the worst part. I don't drive to the east as often though, I may feel different if I drove both directions equally often.

[NWI_Irish96]

There's really nothing in the Midwest that fits this. You're either in a congested urban area or flat cornfields.

64 between Louisville and St. Louis is probably the closest thing to interesting in the Midwest that I've driven.

[Dirt Roads]

The only real "rule" I can think of is that you can't pass through a metro area larger than your endpoints. 

Others of note:
Greenville/Spartanburg - Knoxville

Sorry for mincing here, but even though Greenville/Spartanburg MSA (1,425,235, 2019) is larger than Asheville (542,821, 2019), this pair still doesn't make sense.

Greenville 70,720 (2020)
Spartanburg 38,732 (2020)
Asheville 94,589 (2020)
Johnson City 71,076 (2020)
Kingsport (barely), 55,442 (2020) 
Knoxville 190,740 (2020)

[ethanhopkin14]

I have never understood the "interstates are boring" commentary that has always persisted. Some are very scenic.  Some offer views you can't see on any other highway.  All are safer and don't make a cross country trek last two weeks.  Stop bashing my system man!!

[JayhawkCO]

The only real "rule" I can think of is that you can't pass through a metro area larger than your endpoints. 

Others of note:
Greenville/Spartanburg - Knoxville

Sorry for mincing here, but even though Greenville/Spartanburg MSA (1,425,235, 2019) is larger than Asheville (542,821, 2019), this pair still doesn't make sense.

Greenville 70,720 (2020)
Spartanburg 38,732 (2020)
Asheville 94,589 (2020)
Johnson City 71,076 (2020)
Kingsport (barely), 55,442 (2020) 
Knoxville 190,740 (2020)

I'm confused why not.  Greenville/Spartanburg and Knoxville are both larger than Asheville or anything else in between.  Are you saying it's not scenic?

[thspfc]

Denver and SLC, for sure. Whether it's I-70 to I-15 or I-70 to US-6.

[vdeane]

Denver and SLC, for sure. Whether it's I-70 to I-15 or I-70 to US-6.

Google says I-25->I-80 is faster than either of those (not by much for I-70->US 6, but that's not all-interstate anyways).

[thspfc]

Denver and SLC, for sure. Whether it's I-70 to I-15 or I-70 to US-6.

Google says I-25->I-80 is faster than either of those (not by much for I-70->US 6, but that's not all-interstate anyways).

That's less scenic, but still pretty as far as Interstates go.

[JayhawkCO]

Denver and SLC, for sure. Whether it's I-70 to I-15 or I-70 to US-6.

Google says I-25->I-80 is faster than either of those (not by much for I-70->US 6, but that's not all-interstate anyways).

That's less scenic, but still pretty as far as Interstates go.

Meh.  I-80 in Wyoming isn't the prettiest.  It's nice eastbound heading into Evanston but then pretty blah.  I-80 between SLC and the Wyoming line is quite nice though.

[Revive 755]

There's really nothing in the Midwest that fits this. You're either in a congested urban area or flat cornfields.

If you take I-55, I-39, and I-94 between St. Louis and Minneapolis - St. Paul, there's some relatively good scenery north of Madison in Wisconsin.

I-44 between St. Louis and Springfield, MO has some scenic spots, but the amount of traffic and need for more climbing lanes makes the drive a bit unpleasant.

[Dirt Roads]

The only real "rule" I can think of is that you can't pass through a metro area larger than your endpoints. 

Others of note:
Greenville/Spartanburg - Knoxville

Sorry for mincing here, but even though Greenville/Spartanburg MSA (1,425,235, 2019) is larger than Asheville (542,821, 2019), this pair still doesn't make sense.

Greenville 70,720 (2020)
Spartanburg 38,732 (2020)
Asheville 94,589 (2020)
Johnson City 71,076 (2020)
Kingsport (barely), 55,442 (2020) 
Knoxville 190,740 (2020)

I'm confused why not.  Greenville/Spartanburg and Knoxville are both larger than Asheville or anything else in between.  Are you saying it's not scenic?

Not at all.  But it is arbitrary that Greenville/Spartanburg belong together so as to make it bigger than Asheville.  No matter how you slice it, Greenville is still smaller than Asheville and roughly the same size as Johnson City (which could have been avoided by using I-40, certainly just as scenic).  It also doesn't help that Greenville it is some 30 miles off of I-26.  It's kind of like me saying the same about Raleigh/Durham to Washington DC and skipping over Richmond (which by the way Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill were once all in their own combined statistical area - also arbitrary).

[JayhawkCO]

The only real "rule" I can think of is that you can't pass through a metro area larger than your endpoints. 

Others of note:
Greenville/Spartanburg - Knoxville

Sorry for mincing here, but even though Greenville/Spartanburg MSA (1,425,235, 2019) is larger than Asheville (542,821, 2019), this pair still doesn't make sense.

Greenville 70,720 (2020)
Spartanburg 38,732 (2020)
Asheville 94,589 (2020)
Johnson City 71,076 (2020)
Kingsport (barely), 55,442 (2020) 
Knoxville 190,740 (2020)

I'm confused why not.  Greenville/Spartanburg and Knoxville are both larger than Asheville or anything else in between.  Are you saying it's not scenic?

Not at all.  But it is arbitrary that Greenville/Spartanburg belong together so as to make it bigger than Asheville.  No matter how you slice it, Greenville is still smaller than Asheville and roughly the same size as Johnson City (which could have been avoided by using I-40, certainly just as scenic).  It also doesn't help that Greenville it is some 30 miles off of I-26.  It's kind of like me saying the same about Raleigh/Durham to Washington DC and skipping over Richmond (which by the way Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill were once all in their own combined statistical area - also arbitrary).

I meant Greenville/Anderson.  Better?  Still larger than Asheville by about 450k people.  And I'm not saying it has to be only one interstate.  Denver to Vegas, as in my OP, is two.

[Dirt Roads]

I meant Greenville/Anderson.  Better?  Still larger than Asheville by about 450k people.  And I'm not saying it has to be only one interstate.  Denver to Vegas, as in my OP, is two.

Let me be honest.  Back in the MTR days, I made the mistake of insinuating that Charlotte was a larger city (and perhaps more important city) than Columbus, Ohio.  I don't want to squawk about it, but it is hard for me to understand how Asheville is of less importance than either Greenville or Knoxville, regardless of population.  Except if you are talking railroading, as the big mainlines never went anywhere near Asheville.  My high school buddy who went to the University of Tennessee is now seething in agony, particularly since he knows that I've been around about every section of Knoxville.

Anyhow, you are entitled to your own rules.  In the spirit of fun, I challenge everyone to come up with "Interstates between Two Metro Areas" that run between larger metros (I had already assumed Combined Statistical Areas, but the OP is now saying Core Based Statistical Areas) and skip over a city that is pretty important in between. Here's a couple that jump out at me (assuming Combined Statistical Area populations):

Harrisburg to Newark, New Jersey (jumping over Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton)
Knoxville to Cincinnati (jumping over Lexington)
Fayetteville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida (jumping over Savannah)
Killeen/Temple, Texas to Dallas/Fort Worth (jumping over Waco)

It's probably harder to find examples using Core Based Statistical Areas, but I'm sure that there are some good ones out there.  I'll try to find a few myself.