Most unique region of the USA

[agentsteel53]

I just thought of south Texas.  US-83 along the Rio Grande between McAllen and Laredo has some towns which are indistinguishable from north Mexico.

[PAHighways]

Rather than build its primary highways to be reasonably straight like every other state, it just plopped them on top of the terrain.

Not surprising considering they follow old Indian trails then they were built to follow rail lines, back 80 years ago when Pennsylvania had money to burn from the income from the timber, oil, coal, and steel industries.

You have a lot of sharp curves on every single rural state highway (I am not exaggerating)...

Yes you are, because there are no sharp curves on Turnpike 576. 

[hm insulators]

Humboldt and Del Norte counties have the redwoods along US 101.  That's pretty unique!  The culture is different too.  People there call it "Living behind the Redwood Curtain".  Competing reggae festivals suing each other combined with the massive amount of weed being grown add plenty of regional color...LOL!  This part of the USA even has a closed Indian casino in Klamath and when was the last time anyone saw a casino go broke?  Or if you want to see something to do with this area's past, head to the Samoa Cookhouse.  There's no Samoans there, it's the kitchen for a former logging camp serving regular family food in an all-you-can-eat format and it's very well prepared.

Add in plenty of 4-lane undivided freeway, which is rare in and of itself.  Spice with wild rivers like the Smith, Klamath and the Eel, which can go on real rampages and wash away entire sections of highway and bridges too.  Toss in the derelicts who congest Clam Beach County Park, Arcata's town square and downtown Garberville to see what the seamier side of the Sixties was like.  Crescent City has the hardest core prison in the state of California at Pelican Bay.  You can pay the highest prices for gas along US 101 in these counties too...LOL!

I do recommend the hamburgers at She-She's, which is in Gasquet, a small unincorporated hamlet on US 199, the last US-signed remnant of the former 99-x99 system.  Get there quick since the old couple that owns it are dealing with health issues.  Get the one on the French roll and order up a milkshake since this place uses real ice cream. 

Unique, thy place is found in northernmost coastal California!

Rick 

My brother lived in Crescent City for many years.

[vtk]

Da UP, eh.  It's effectively "South Canada"

Funny how South Canada is farther north than most of the population of Canada...

[oscar]

Hawaii, for culturally. You have a melting pot of several different ethnic groups - Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian native, other Pacific Islander, American, Polish... and it's a very different mix than the rest of the country, not to mention much better integrated into a new identity.

Also road-wise -- for roads, Hawaii has to be the most Third World-ish of the 50 states.  Striking similarities to Puerto Rico, especially the many twisty one-and-a-half-lane roads (mainly along the coasts in Hawaii, in the interior for Puerto Rico).  In addition to the Hawaii electorate giving roads a low priority, it didn't help that before the current U.S. recession, Hawaii's economy was clobbered by Japan's deep and long recession. 

[roadman65]

The Northeast is different as far as culture because you have old historic or colonial buildings still standing.  You have Mom and Pop Hotels at Beach Resorts where mostly everyplace else is crowded with chain hotels.  Go to VA Beach, Myrtle Beach, Daytona Beach, Miami, Santa Monica, and many other Beach places and see Holiday Inn, Days Inn, etc.

Then New York is the only place to use old 50' style mast arms and analogue controllers.  If you stand next to the signal control boxes that are real small compared to elsewhere in the world, and you can hear the relays operate and it make loud clicks when the signals change orientation.  At least you can say that progress has not affected the big apple as far as traffic signals are concerned! Then they have a default NO TURN ON RED where we all know that elsewhere signs are posted.

Roadways, its New Jersey that is unique!  Almost all divided highways have all turns from the right lane.  All interstate guides have usually 3 exit guides as supposed to the standard 2.  One is at one mile, the second is 1/4 mile away (signed as NEXT RIGHT), and the at exit sign.  The Toll Roads lack control cities from adjacent roadways in most cases and almost everywhere on the Garden State Parkway.  No distance information on interstates (mileage to exits and cities along the way except for lgses for unheard townships).  How about the double speeding fines on 65 mph posted highways and not to forget only two 2 lane roads to have 55 mph on them!

On the plus side they are only one state to prohibit trucks on 3 or more lane highways in the left lane.  The only state to have two left turn signal heads for left turn signals and to evenly space the signal heads apart so if you follow a large vehicle you can see around it.  Trucks are slow accelarating and cars need to have that free lane.

[empirestate]

The Northeast is different as far as culture because you have old historic or colonial buildings still standing.  You have Mom and Pop Hotels at Beach Resorts where mostly everyplace else is crowded with chain hotels.  Go to VA Beach, Myrtle Beach, Daytona Beach, Miami, Santa Monica, and many other Beach places and see Holiday Inn, Days Inn, etc.

I once visited the oldest house in Fort Lauderdale. Built in 1915. The house had a refrigerator original to it. Nothing that recent qualifies as oldest anything in the Northeast...(ironic, too, since Florida has the oldest colonial settlement on the Atlantic seaboard).

At least you can say that progress has not affected the big apple as far as traffic signals are concerned!

As far as many things are concerned. That's a peculiarity of NYC: despite being our most populous city, it is actually pretty far behind in many matters of progress. Fiber-optic TV and internet service is only just being installed in much of the city; cellular coverage is poor in the congested areas; and the transit system, the most comprehensive in the nation, is nevertheless still bound by century-old technology.