I-80 in Nebraska

[rawr apples]

I'll be driving this tomorrow, and was wondering if anyone else has.

Is it really as boring as I think it's going to be?
Anything I should watch out for, speed traps/cops/crazy people etc?

Anything interesting in the slightest..?

I'm going from Portland, Ore to Omaha, via I-84/I-80, if anyone has any tips/interesting facts that would be very appreciated

[corco]

I've done that entire drive in isolated segments many, many times.

As far as I-80 in Nebraska is concerned, I find it less boring than I-80 in Wyoming, but maybe that's because I do I-80 cross Wyoming more often. I-80 in Nebraska is fairly interesting, but construction is atrocious on it right now, so be prepared for that. I drove from Laramie to Lincoln three weeks ago and it seemed like the whole thing was a construction zone. Hopefully it's better for you.

If you're carrying drugs and see a "Drug Checkpoint Ahead" sign, don't get off at the exit, because that's where the cops wait, and you can continue on if you stay on the freeway. I learned this the hard way- I exited to clinch a spur when I drove 3 weeks ago and ended up having my car sniffed at. I wasn't carrying anything, but I had to awkwardly explain why it was that I exited off the freeway and got a "You've got to be kidding me" look from the cop

Brace yourself for wind on I-80 in Wyoming...winter is starting to pick up and with it the insane winds- drive carefully from Rawlins to Laramie- I did it a couple days ago and the wind is almost back in full force.

I'd say the most scenic stretch you'll hit, IMO, is I-84 from Ogden to I-80.

Laramie has the cheapest gas you'll see- make sure to get off at the US-287 exit and head north about three blocks to the Loaf 'n Jug station on the left- that station usually has the cheapest gas in the state (and therefore what essentially amounts to the cheapest gas in the country). It's $2.22 right now. 

But I-80 in Nebraska,  to me, is fairly entertaining. There's enough truck traffic that the drive is mentally stimulating, so I don't see any issues with it. But Nebraska is a really long state, so it feels like it takes forever, and the fascination of Nebraska's unique signage wears off pretty quickly.

I think a lot of the bad rap Nebraska gets, particularly for eastbound travellers, is that you've already driven 400 miles of boring Wyoming, and then you have another 450 miles of fairly boring Nebraska. If I had to choose though, I'd drive across Nebraska before I'd drive cross Wyoming or cross Idaho east of Mountain Home every day of the week

[agentsteel53]

sweet demented Jesus, there are drug checkpoints in f'n Nebraska now?  What is this, Mexico???

Speaking of clinching spurs and other geekly activities ... the only time I've gotten pulled over in Nebraska was for speeding: 61 in a 55.  It was a Saturday night after a Huskers game going south on US-77 out of Lincoln, and once he established that I was sober, I was easily on my way to a warning.  He asked me what on earth I was doing, and I told him "taking photos of old highway signs" - so he requested that I show him!  "Well, sir, this intersection was built in '62 and I do believe these green signs go back that far without ever having been replaced."

I have not been on I-80 in Nebraska in two years ... it's fairly boring, last I remember!  But hey, it's 80, its purpose is to get traffic to Point B as efficiently as possible, not to look pretty in the process.

US-30 is a nice, interesting alternative - you get to see the grain elevators and the trains up close.  If you get off as far as US-6, check out a little town called Sutton.  Just north of where the railroad tracks cross 6, there's a little burger stand, and they make some incredibly good burgers.  I remember in 2006 driving US-6, and eating a delicious burger - with the engine off while a 200+ car train passed through.

[agentsteel53]

oh, if you're going to Omaha, check out the last known '61 spec interstate shields in Nebraska: there is a 480 and an 80.  PM me for their locations.

[mightyace]

The only time I've been on I-80 was when my parents took us to Denver in 1976.  (i.e. I have not clinched the state as we left 80 @ I-76)

As I was only 11, I had to watch and man it was boring.  This was long before Game Boys, in car DVDs, hey even VCRs were just starting to appear, so there wasn't a lot to occupy my time.

However, there are a few things I do remember.  In North Platte, there is "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Scouts Rest Ranch.  And, if you also like railroads, there is an observation tower near Union Pacific's North Platte yard which is said to be the largest in the world. (US 30 parallels it for 10-15 miles!)  Also, the Union Pacific mainline is as important to the railroad world as I-80 is for trucks and they roughly parallel each other.

I also remember the Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island.  It still appears on the Rand McNally atlas, so I guess it's still around.

[agentsteel53]

did you see any 80S signs left over on 76?

[mightyace]

did you see any 80S signs left over on 76?

I may have but I don't think so.  Since I remembered the 80S shields in Ohio and the last trip I saw them was 2 or 4 years earlier, you'd think I'd remember seeing them in Colorado and/or Nebraska.

I have no way of knowing what was on the side roads because I don't recall stopping along I-76 on that trip.

I do recall that I-76 was not "complete" around Ft. Morgan and Brush, CO.  The road was a four lane expressway with at grade crossings but no traffic lights.  I think it was signed as US 6 west and TO I-76 West.  US 34 may have been multiplexed along it at the time.

[Chris]

In North Platte...And, if you also like railroads, there is an observation tower near Union Pacific's North Platte yard which is said to be the largest in the world. (US 30 parallels it for 10-15 miles!)  Also, the Union Pacific mainline is as important to the railroad world as I-80 is for trucks and they roughly parallel each other.

That's Bailey Yard.

[mightyace]

In North Platte...And, if you also like railroads, there is an observation tower near Union Pacific's North Platte yard which is said to be the largest in the world. (US 30 parallels it for 10-15 miles!)  Also, the Union Pacific mainline is as important to the railroad world as I-80 is for trucks and they roughly parallel each other.

That's Bailey Yard.

Shame on a railfan like me for forgetting the name! 

[J N Winkler]

There are numerous good museums (mostly focusing on the prairie heritage) in the I-80 corridor, loosely defined--not just Grand Island, but also Hastings (Hastings Museum, with attached planetarium and IMAX theatre), Aurora (Plainsman Museum), and Minden (Harold Warp's Pioneer Village).  You could easily spend several days seeing them all.

Most of them have a homespun, primitivist "old curiosity shop" feel, but that is part of their charm, and they cater to a diverse range of interests--for example, the Plainsman Museum has a major exhibit on Harold Edgerton (who more or less invented stroboscopic photography), including many of his prints, because he was raised in Aurora.  Pioneer Village in Minden has very old typewritten exhibit labels which express an innocent faith in technological progress as an unqualified social good (many are of the form "A invented X and, as a result, acquired undreamt-of wealth") but, again, that is part of its charm.

I have actually not driven I-80 throughout Nebraska (just the parts between Grand Island and Omaha, and between Lexington and Ogallala), but it is indeed boring in terms of topography and road alignment.  If Wikipedia can be believed (and I don't believe it because I haven't actually seen the construction plans), the length between just west of Grand Island and just west of Lincoln is apparently the longest tangent on the Interstate system.

[Sykotyk]

Prior to driving I-80 through Nebraska, I always thought it'd be boring, etc. But actually, it's one of those fly-over states I like driving the most. It's topography and geography changes quite drastically. To the west you get the hilly badlands-like areas from Pine Bluffs to Big Spring. Then you get the river crossings of the Platte River up until Kearney. Then you hit Lincoln. Then the corridor from Lincoln to Omaha. Big city of Omaha. Then cross the Missouri and you're out of the state.

455 miles goes quickly. Wyoming is a nice drive, as well. Best 'fun' state is to drive I-90 to I-94 across Montana. Go from mountains, hills, to grass land with the ocassional hill or badland feature across the state.

Sykotyk

[agentsteel53]

Best 'fun' state is to drive I-90 to I-94 across Montana.

the old US-10 corridor!  A lot of old US-10 remains and I did the freeway in one direction and the old alignments coming back in December, 2007.  One of my favorite trips of all time.

one old US-10 sign remains.