Hypothetical Delaware Question

[corco]

If one were to set out to drive every mile of state highway in Delaware during daylight hours, figuring 10 hours of daylight, how long would it take? 2 days? 4 days? a week? This being signed highways- not state reference routes

[froggie]

There's roughly 1200 miles of route mileage in Delaware.  If you figure that duplexed mileage will be countered at least in part by having to backtrack to get to other routes, and the rural speed limit is 50 for 2 lanes and 55 for 4 lanes (excluding I-95 and the DE 1 tollway), you should be able to plan accordingly.

[corco]

Perfect! Thanks

[Alps]

I had already driven the length of US 13, I-95, I-295, I-495, tolled DE 1, and US 40 in previous trips to Delaware.  I was able to vanquish all the rest of the roads from 7:30 AM Sunday to 4:00 PM Monday one Memorial Day weekend, admittedly traveling faster than I ought.  (I spent about 6 hours of that time sleeping, eating, or refueling.)  I'd allow four days.

[corco]

Hmmm....that might be pushing it. I have a unique opportunity to do it in April, but only if I can do it in three or fewer. I'll have to look at it more carefully

[Alps]

Hmmm....that might be pushing it. I have a unique opportunity to do it in April, but only if I can do it in three or fewer. I'll have to look at it more carefully

Consider driving some roads at night.  US 13 and 113 have nothing to recommend them and they are LONG.  Most of the cross-DE routes in the south are interesting enough to be worthwhile during the day, but then you have DE 400 which is a complete waste of your energy.  Three days is definitely doable if you relax your rule a bit.

[Chris]

Now that is roadgeek math. Planning the most efficient route to clinch all Delaware routes.

I think the first 70 - 80% shouldn't be a problem, but the remaining 20% would require to go back a lot of roads you have already traveled. (this counts for most systems I guess).

[corco]

Since it would be something I do in one fell swoop (and therefore the most efficient way possible, unlike how I've done other state), I'd probably just try to get a roads layer from DelDOT and run a network analysis on it to get the most efficient way to cover the entire area

[Alps]

Since it would be something I do in one fell swoop (and therefore the most efficient way possible, unlike how I've done other state), I'd probably just try to get a roads layer from DelDOT and run a network analysis on it to get the most efficient way to cover the entire area

Well, yes and no.  You need to add some roads from out of state as well.  I found a few roads in MD were good, for example to connect 16 to 20 or 24 to 26 or some such nonsense along those lines.  I don't think you need to find THE optimal solution - I reworked my route on the fly (as in, early the second morning while driving) and saved a couple of hours.

[corco]

Right, that's the issue there. Having not performed any analysis on Wyoming, I can say matter of factly the most efficient route involves driving some dirt roads in extreme northwestern Colorado/northeastern off-panhandle Utah, and driving every mile of state highway in Washington definitely involves driving a locally maintained road in Anacortes.

So no, that probably wouldn't give me the MOST efficient route, but it would give me a pretty good starting point to run from

[Alex]

Driving the rural roads in Kent and Sussex should be somewhat easy. The arterials and commercial blitz of other roads, like Delaware 2 (Kirkwood Highway) and U.S. 40 (Pulaski Highway) is what will both kill time and frustrate you.

I have yet to finish all of the state routes, and I lived there for over 20 years. Slower lower Delaware never interested me that much roadwise...

[Ian]

You should also check out some older signs that are still up within northern Delaware.

[Alps]

All the old signs are really in Wilmington itself.  Speed-wise, southern Delaware really moves well - less than 30 minutes to cross the state, which is even tough to do in the north where it's half the distance or less.  Just not much to see unless you like farms and forests.  DE/MD 54 is a neat drive.

[Scott5114]

Here are some things you might want to watch out for in Delaware.

1. Delaware has three counties. Two of them are in Joe Biden's house. Be careful clinching Sussex County; it's only accessible through his bedroom, and its county seat is a pair of shoes in his closet.
2. Do not drive more than twenty miles per hour in Delaware. If you do you will no longer be in Delaware.
3. Exercise caution with soda bottles in Delaware. If you shake a soda bottle and open it, some of the pressurized soda drops may land in Maryland or Pennsylvania. These states' governments are unlikely to be very forgiving about the unwanted emissions from Delaware.