Longest Interstate You Haven't Been On

[kphoger]

I've decided there's a North Central Midwest, Southeastern Midwest, Near Western Midwest, and a Further Eastern Midwest.

Y'all can decide which states and sub-regions belong in there, but I'll be really disappointed if Buffalo and Paducah don't enter the discussion.

While I, as a nitpicker, appreciate your attempt to make this needlessly more complicated than it already is–I also do not appreciate your attempt to make this needlessly more complicated than it already is.

[formulanone]

I've decided there's a North Central Midwest, Southeastern Midwest, Near Western Midwest, and a Further Eastern Midwest.

Y'all can decide which states and sub-regions belong in there, but I'll be really disappointed if Buffalo and Paducah don't enter the discussion.

While I, as a nitpicker, appreciate your attempt to make this needlessly more complicated than it already is–I also do not appreciate your attempt to make this needlessly more complicated than it already is.

You're right, I forgot the Middle Centroid Solid Doughnut Hole Midwest.

[kphoger]

I've decided there's a North Central Midwest, Southeastern Midwest, Near Western Midwest, and a Further Eastern Midwest.

Y'all can decide which states and sub-regions belong in there, but I'll be really disappointed if Buffalo and Paducah don't enter the discussion.

While I, as a nitpicker, appreciate your attempt to make this needlessly more complicated than it already is–I also do not appreciate your attempt to make this needlessly more complicated than it already is.

You're right, I forgot the Middle Centroid Solid Doughnut Hole Midwest.

Which one is Tuscola, IL, in?  I'm going with the Moderately East Pancake Unsweet Tea Midwest, but you may disagree.

[hobsini2]

You all are wrong. The Midwest is just my little corner of the world. And I mean corner. Other side of the street, fuck it.

[hobsini2]

But seriously, as someone who stormchases and knows the land well, I do consider the Eastern Great Plains as part of the Midwest. I define the "gray area" between the Eastern and Western Great Plains to be roughly 50 miles east of the CO/KS border and going straight north and south from roughly Amarillo to Minot. 

[kphoger]

I define the "gray area" between the Eastern and Western Great Plains to be roughly 50 miles east of the CO/KS border and going straight north and south from roughly Amarillo to Minot. 

Heh.  The town I grew up in is at mile marker 55.

[thspfc]

I define it at the Colorado/Kansas border. Why? Because the line has to be drawn somewhere, and no matter where you draw it, there's going to be "how is x in this region while y is in this region" complaints, so you might as well draw the line on the state border where it's clear and obvious.

[SkyPesos]

On the eastern side, where do you all think the Midwest begins/ends? Most common answer is OH border with WV or PA, though I've seen Pittsburgh and Buffalo get included in sometimes, and I know some East coasters think the Midwest begins west of I-81.

[kphoger]

As I've said, the KS/CO state line is a decent approximation, but it still doesn't solve (for me, at least) the Dakotas/Montana conundrum.

[CoreySamson]

On the eastern side, where do you all think the Midwest begins/ends? Most common answer is OH border with WV or PA, though I've seen Pittsburgh and Buffalo get included in sometimes, and I know some East coasters think the Midwest begins west of I-81.

I personally treat the I-71 corridor as the general eastern Midwest border. If Ontario was part of the US I could see the rationale for including WNY and Pittsburgh in it, but since it is not, I don't.

[Nacho]

The longest Interstate I haven't been on is I-10. I-90 is probably the Interstate I've been on most often, and I've been on I-80 many times as well (including the portion that's 80/90). I've only been on I-40 a couple times, but I have been on it, so I-10 it is.

Growing up I generally thought of the Midwest as the states with "traditional" Big Ten universities, i.e., Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa. I'm willing to accept a larger Midwest with Great Lakes and Great Plains subregions though it gets tricky once you start considering whether all of this or that state is truly Midwestern, or if it's just part.

[Scott5114]

↑ Anything that has Iowa and Nebraska in separate categories is even stranger than one that has Kansas and Missouri split. They are very similar to one another.

[webny99]

On the eastern side, where do you all think the Midwest begins/ends? Most common answer is OH border with WV or PA, though I've seen Pittsburgh and Buffalo get included in sometimes, and I know some East coasters think the Midwest begins west of I-81.

I'd say Cleveland, mayyyybe Erie PA. Buffalo and Pittsburgh are very Rust Belt, but that's not synonymous with Midwest by any stretch even though it clearly overlaps.

[kphoger]

↑ Anything that has Iowa and Nebraska in separate categories is even stranger than one that has Kansas and Missouri split. They are very similar to one another.

At least it must be said that the farmland of southeastern Nebraska isn't much at all like the Sand Hills.

[Nacho]

I'll admit Iowa is something of an awkward fit here as it's the only one of those states that doesn't border the Great Lakes and the only one that wasn't at least part of the Northwest Territory. It's just that in my mind growing up (with apologies to fans of the old Big 8) the Big Ten was the Midwestern conference and therefore the Midwestern states were the states with Big Ten schools (except Pennsylvania, because Penn State was a johnny-come-lately). As I said, I now think of the Midwest as being a larger region with two subregions.

Though I think you'll always run into a bit of the problem of states A&B, B&C, and C&D feel like they should be in the same region but A&D don't.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

On the eastern side, where do you all think the Midwest begins/ends? Most common answer is OH border with WV or PA, though I've seen Pittsburgh and Buffalo get included in sometimes, and I know some East coasters think the Midwest begins west of I-81.

I'd say Cleveland, mayyyybe Erie PA. Buffalo and Pittsburgh are very Rust Belt, but that's not synonymous with Midwest by any stretch even though it clearly overlaps.

I don't think there's a maybe about Buffalo and Pittsburgh being Rust Belt - they absolutely are. As it comes to culture, it's like why I said you can't separate MN and WI from ND and SD - you can't separate Cleveland from Buffalo and Pittsburgh culturally.

[webny99]

On the eastern side, where do you all think the Midwest begins/ends? Most common answer is OH border with WV or PA, though I've seen Pittsburgh and Buffalo get included in sometimes, and I know some East coasters think the Midwest begins west of I-81.

I'd say Cleveland, mayyyybe Erie PA. Buffalo and Pittsburgh are very Rust Belt, but that's not synonymous with Midwest by any stretch even though it clearly overlaps.

I don't think there's a maybe about Buffalo and Pittsburgh being Rust Belt - they absolutely are. As it comes to culture, it's like why I said you can't separate MN and WI from ND and SD - you can't separate Cleveland from Buffalo and Pittsburgh culturally.

Right, I don't think we're disagreeing. I was referring to Cleveland/Erie as the eastern boundary of the Midwest. All four cities are very much part of the Rust Belt, which I think overlaps with the Midwest but is not synonymous.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Yeah, maybe one day I'll learn to read again.

[US 89]

Resurrecting this thread since mine has changed...

Since I last posted in here, I've gotten some mileage on I-94, I-81, and I-77, so my answer is now the eastern I-76.

For US highways - it turns out that somehow, I've been on some part of each of the 63 longest US routes. First one I still have never traveled is US 212. If I were to drive on that, it'd move all the way down to US 10 at #79.

[MATraveler128]

My top 3

I-70 - Almost made it in Baltimore.

I-94 - Never been to the Midwest

I-35 - Same as above.

Back in June, I finally drove I-70 in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.  So I think after I-94 and I-35, my next one up will be I-10.

[Dough4872]

I-10

[machias]

Interstate 30

[Bruce]

I-40 for me.

I've been on plenty of I-90 in the Northwest and a bit out east. I've been on pieces of I-80 as well.

Longest north-south I've yet to travel on is I-35.

[JayhawkCO]

Currently my answer is I-PR2 at 140 miles, but I have a trip booked to PR to clinch all the interstates there.

Then my answer is I-35W in TX at 87 miles.

[epzik8]

I-10, although I've only truly been to Florida and Mississippi of the states it passes through; I've only been to Alabama for an unscheduled flight layover in Birmingham.