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Author Topic: Other reasons to shun a highway  (Read 4321 times)

StogieGuy7

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #50 on: April 28, 2022, 01:12:35 PM »

How many shootings and rock-throwing incidents were there on the Ryan?  And what is the AADT on it?  I have a moderately strong suspicion that one could have driven the Ryan every day for a year during that time and still have had a statistically greater risk of being struck by lightning.
Eliminate the targeted shootings, and you'd have a statistically greater chance of winning the Powerball jackpot.

On our way to our Global Entry appointments this morning, we, along with a number of other vehicles, nearly got broadsided by a (likely drunk) driver of an SUV that tried to take the S-curve on southbound Lake Shore Drive while driving too fast.  Am I going to avoid southbound Lake Shore Drive at the S-curve on Wednesday mornings around 10:15?  Of course not.

Agree totally. The best reason for shunning the Dan Ryan is because of the horrendous traffic. Also, whether it makes sense to "shun" it for safety depends a lot on where route needs to take you. It's one thing to shun it by not following the Edens to the Kennedy to the Dan Ryan to the Skyway to get from Lake County to Indiana and taking the Tri-State instead (for example). But it's another if you're in the south loop and need to get to the south suburbs. The Dan Ryan is 100 times safer than any of the surface streets you might take to avoid it.  That would be foolish.

But on the whole, the best reason to shun a highway is because it's congested and sucks. In Chicagoland, there are many expressways that deserve shunning and I'd say that I-55 may be the worst of all given how many miles of it are just awful.
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US 89

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #51 on: April 28, 2022, 02:01:49 PM »

You can save yourself three minutes and two miles by using section-line roads to bypass US 40 through Vernal, UT. I have never done this personally, but it is what Google recommends.

kphoger

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #52 on: April 28, 2022, 02:07:24 PM »

You can save yourself three minutes and two miles by using section-line roads to bypass US 40 through Vernal, UT. I have never done this personally, but it is what Google recommends.

At least those are asphalt roads.
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MikieTimT

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #53 on: April 28, 2022, 02:08:22 PM »

I shunned a stretch of highway (US-160) in Colorado on the segment we drove from Boise City, OK to La Junta, CO because of my aversion to add 14 miles to my trip, so I barrelled down County Road W at 60MPH as it was a straight shot and cut off the aforementioned 14 miles (plus one small town).  At least it was smoother than most of the paved streets in Bentonville, AR, so other than dust that needed washing off along with the accumulated bug guts, it saved several minutes of drive time as well.

Speaking of La Junta, I once considered but ultimately decided against shaving 3 miles off the US-50 routing through town, and having a little gravel-road fun in the process.

On the other side of the Kansas state line, I've known people who shave 4 miles off the K-25 routing through Russell Springs by taking a gravel road.  In fact, if you remove the waypoint on the map I linked to, there's a good chance that the gravel route is actually what Google Maps suggests.

Google Maps actually recommended County Road W in its navigation, so I took it after only a little thought.  My wife was sleeping in the passenger seat (par for the course) and woke up about 4 miles into the shortcut wondering if I was lost, or just crazy taking a dirt road on a multi-state road trip in a convoy with my in-laws.  She clearly doesn't share my obsession with efficiency, and started calling her sisters to confirm whether or not she needed to backseat critique my decisionmaking.  She did anyway.  I suggested she go back to sleep, but she wasn't in the mood afterwards.  Her younger sister's family also took the same route after my report of road conditions, but not the ones in the lead, which we pretty much caught up with after the shortcut.  We had all left the hotel in Guymon at different times as we wisely don't wait on each other when taking different rigs.  Don't know if you can really call it a convoy now the more I think about it.
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froggie

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #54 on: April 28, 2022, 03:51:54 PM »

Most dirt roads during mud season.  Can't shun them all because I live on one.
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doorknob60

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #55 on: April 28, 2022, 06:00:54 PM »

On a similar note to some of these, Google recommends you use Johnston Rd to shortcut around US-95 in Grangeville, ID. Maps Link. Saves about 3 miles and a lot of people use it. The pavement is in rough shape, and it is posted at 35 MPH (lower than you'd expect for a road like this) and I believe No Thru Trucks. Not sure if it's always been that way. I've used it, but I think I prefer just going through Grangeville, plus it's a decent gas stop, and there's a Taco John's there which I like to stop at since the ones near Boise closed.

Here's an even bigger shortcut near Susanville, CA, it saves 10 miles compared to staying on US-395. Maps Link. You definitely want to use this shortcut (I've been on it, but around a decade ago), it's paved and looks to be posted at 55 MPH.

jdbx

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #56 on: April 29, 2022, 02:41:25 PM »

On a similar note to some of these, Google recommends you use Johnston Rd to shortcut around US-95 in Grangeville, ID. Maps Link. Saves about 3 miles and a lot of people use it. The pavement is in rough shape, and it is posted at 35 MPH (lower than you'd expect for a road like this) and I believe No Thru Trucks. Not sure if it's always been that way. I've used it, but I think I prefer just going through Grangeville, plus it's a decent gas stop, and there's a Taco John's there which I like to stop at since the ones near Boise closed.

Here's an even bigger shortcut near Susanville, CA, it saves 10 miles compared to staying on US-395. Maps Link. You definitely want to use this shortcut (I've been on it, but around a decade ago), it's paved and looks to be posted at 55 MPH.

For some reason, this made me think of another one of my "longcuts".... that is to say, a LONGER route that takes a SHORTER amount of time rather than following the signed highway route.  If you are traveling from points south, it is quicker to get to Guerneville via US-101 N and River road than it is using the direct routing along CA-116 due to a combination of lower speed limits, and having to travel through the middle of Sebastopol.  I only made the error of following the signage to Guerneville via CA-116 once. Map Link

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doorknob60

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Re: Other reasons to shun a highway
« Reply #57 on: April 29, 2022, 03:17:35 PM »

On a similar note to some of these, Google recommends you use Johnston Rd to shortcut around US-95 in Grangeville, ID. Maps Link. Saves about 3 miles and a lot of people use it. The pavement is in rough shape, and it is posted at 35 MPH (lower than you'd expect for a road like this) and I believe No Thru Trucks. Not sure if it's always been that way. I've used it, but I think I prefer just going through Grangeville, plus it's a decent gas stop, and there's a Taco John's there which I like to stop at since the ones near Boise closed.

Here's an even bigger shortcut near Susanville, CA, it saves 10 miles compared to staying on US-395. Maps Link. You definitely want to use this shortcut (I've been on it, but around a decade ago), it's paved and looks to be posted at 55 MPH.

For some reason, this made me think of another one of my "longcuts".... that is to say, a LONGER route that takes a SHORTER amount of time rather than following the signed highway route.  If you are traveling from points south, it is quicker to get to Guerneville via US-101 N and River road than it is using the direct routing along CA-116 due to a combination of lower speed limits, and having to travel through the middle of Sebastopol.  I only made the error of following the signage to Guerneville via CA-116 once. Map Link

Similar situation, following US-20/26 all the way from Vale, OR to Caldwell, ID is the shortest route (by about 4 miles), and is what the signs point to. But the fastest way (by about 5 minutes) is to use OR-201 and I-84 due to higher speed limits and not going through small towns. Maps Link. I imagine situations like this are pretty common throughout the country though, and probably getting off topic for this thread.

That Maps routing give me fictional ideas for a southern bypass of Ontario and a new Snake River crossing. As nice as that could be though, it's not really necessary and wouldn't be worth the cost.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2022, 03:21:18 PM by doorknob60 »
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