Your favorite/least favorite "home stretches"

[sprjus4]

^ Agreed. For example, in my case, entering Virginia on I-81. A good 6-7 hours from home, but it starts a last stretch. Some more so once getting to I-64, and most definitely east of Richmond.

[wriddle082]

For me it is most definitely the southernmost few miles of I-77 in the Columbia, SC area, heading southbound.  At Exits 6 and 5, there is lots of traffic merging on heading south since this area has a lot of warehouses, light industry, and a couple of truck stops, and it leads to the southernmost crossing over the Congaree River in the immediate Columbia area.  Then as you're approaching the Congaree River, you're passing by Columbia's municipal waste water treatment plant.  Crossing the river itself is fine, as that bridge has decent concrete, which very well may have been rehabbed before I moved to the area.  But the same can't be said for the two river overflow crossings after the actual river crossing!  They are frequently pothole-riddled in the center and right lanes (both directions!), and often the potholes go all the way through!  All SCDOT does most times is throw some cold patch in the craters, and occasionally they'll try to fix it right with concrete, but it never lasts and it's back to a moonscape maybe a month or so later.  These bridges desperately need a full depth deck rehab, much like how NC preserves their bridges, and many other bridges along I-77 in SC need this too, but I digress.  As I'm going over those two bridges, always in the left lane to avoid the potholes, and always really fast as I'm generally being pursued by "Big Altima Energy"  or the like, I have to try to get back over three lanes to the right so I don't miss my exit, which is Exit 1 to US 21/176/321.

So yeah, I very much prefer coming home via I-26 in either direction.

[kkt]

As you head north on I-5 approaching downtown Seattle there's a pretty nice view of the skyline at about mile 162:

https://www.google.com/maps/@48.4022918,-122.4768646,15.06z

Bad link.

Whoops.  Try this:

https://goo.gl/maps/58xarxqPDdBPv91A6

[Flint1979]

When I'm out of state and hit the Michigan-Ohio line on US-23 I'm thinking I've got less than 130 miles to go. You kind of just take strides like your first stride would be the state line to Dundee, then  Dundee to Milan, then Milan to Ann Arbor, then Ann Arbor to Brighton, then Brighton to Fenton, then Fenton to Flint. It sure makes the drive seem easier.

[Nacho]

When I'm out of state and hit the Michigan-Ohio line on US-23 I'm thinking I've got less than 130 miles to go. You kind of just take strides like your first stride would be the state line to Dundee, then  Dundee to Milan, then Milan to Ann Arbor, then Ann Arbor to Brighton, then Brighton to Fenton, then Fenton to Flint. It sure makes the drive seem easier.

I find that's the best way to chart one's progress (at least if you're in a reasonably populated area) for feeling like you're making steady progress. I remember the New York Thruway feeling endless as a kid. I'd try to chart progress by exits, which are so spread out away from cities that it all too often feels like you're going nowhere, especially when, say, you find you went 16 miles to go from Exit 29 to Exit 29A. It feels a lot smoother if you think of it as the MA-NY line to Albany, Albany to Utica, Utica to Syracuse, Syracuse to Rochester, Rochester to Buffalo, and then Buffalo to the NY-PA line.

[SkyPesos]

For St Louis (expressways/freeways only).

Least favorite: I-70 EB from the west. I don't like I-70 in MO in general at all, so that may be a reason for this. Dislike the Wentzville Pkwy interchange area with the sharp curves. The rest of I-70 in St Charles County is pretty substandard and should've been at least 4 lanes each way since a decade ago. Traffic is very heavy during AM rush as well.

I don't really have a favorite. I-55/64/70 coming in from IL have a nice view of the skyline, but otherwise have nothing else to write home about (after all, Illinois is flat). Haven't entered on I-44 EB, I-55 NB, US 67 NB or US 61 SB before. That leaves MO 21 NB, which I guess it's nice with the rolling hills, but nothing special otherwise.

[kphoger]

For St Louis (expressways/freeways only).

Haven't entered on I-44 EB

Back when my now-wife and I lived in the Chicago area, we made many a trip to visit family in her hometown of Branson.  A lot of those times, we'd leave Branson after church on Sunday, which put us getting to Saint Louis on I-44 right at the afternoon rush hour.  It seems like there was always a traffic jam for one reason or another, and one time traffic was stopped because we hit the end of a high-speed police chase.

I eventually got so fed up, that we started taking a different route instead.  We'd keep going north at Springfield (MO) to Buffalo, then northeast till we hit US-54.  Then we'd take US-54 all the way to Pittsfield (IL), then I-72 to Springfield (IL).  It theoretically took an extra hour, but I didn't arrive home with a major tension headache.



Speaking of those trips...  Southbound...  US-65 south of Ozark, on the way to Branson, is one heck of a home stretch.  Great scenery, four lanes of traffic flowing at 10 over the limit, and only a half-hour to go.  If my wife was driving at that point in the trip, her foot would actually turn to lead somewhere between Marshfield and Strafford.  I could always tell she was happy to be getting close to her hometown, if the needle was over 80.