I think I have fallen in love with US routes

[mariethefoxy]

US 13 can be tedious through Delaware due to the fact its a straight road for miles, and its very easy to speed in that section but the Delaware cops are very strict. Plus theres two spots in Harrington and Greenwood which drop to 35MPH for a few blocks which is really annoying when you just want to get where you need to go already. However when you finally get to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, that is one of my favorite bridge/tunnel things to drive on.

US 50 from Salisbury to Ocean City is decent.

US 222 was an interesting drive from the PA Turnpike to US 30 Lancaster, a nice scenic freeway.

US 3 I've been on a lot in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, my biggest annoyance with that one is theres no signage for Exit 1 in NH until you are right up against the exit.

US 9 in Delaware is a nice interesting but kinda long two lane road in the middle of nowhere Delaware, when you hit DE 1 in Lewes going Westbound and you make the left to continue on US 9 after the duplex with DE 1 theres a nice little Pagan shop I frequent when I'm down there.

thats the only ones I actually remember driving on.

[Rothman]

Greenwood's a notorious speed trap.

[mariethefoxy]

Greenwood's a notorious speed trap.

Last time I was there, (I know of the speed trap so I crawl through the town slightly under the speed limit), someone zooms past me, suddenly i see a black unmarked SUV come out of a parking lot on the left, turns the police lights on and pulls over the person who zoomed past me.

[froggie]

In my fairly extensive Delmarva experience, I've found 113 to be a faster and less stressful route than 13 for north-south travel.

[1995hoo]

Though not nearly as bad as 95 north of Richmond (moreso north of Fredericksburg IMO), one can still catch traffic on 29/66, especially from Warrenton towards DC.

You also have to pay attention to things like the UVA sports schedules. The football team has been down in recent years, but the Notre Dame game on September 12 will still draw a big crowd, for example. More importantly, the cops all know the sports schedules and will be out patrolling on those days. (This is hardly unique to US-29, of course; the same thing applies to I-81 past VPI, or the Beltway past FedEx Field in Landover, or the Jersey Turnpike near the Meadowlands.....etc.)



The OP's reference to another thread sounded familiar because I recalled discussing Route 29 in the context of DC-to-Columbia driving, so I searched and found this:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=4088.msg2051493#msg2051493

If that's what you remember, I'm glad it worked out. Thanks for the feedback, too, because it's good to know what other people think of routes you recommend so you can know whether to keep recommending them!

[mariethefoxy]

In my fairly extensive Delmarva experience, I've found 113 to be a faster and less stressful route than 13 for north-south travel.

US 113 isnt as direct to Delmar, but Ill give it a try.

[froggie]

Works best if your origin/destination is south of Pocomoke City, but it might also work going to Delmar if you cut back to 13 along US 9.

[noelbotevera]

Sometime in 2018, I'm thinking of using US 30 to US 6 to US 250 over to Cedar Point. I've heard the PA Turnpike is crap and the Ohio Turnpike is construction riddled.

[Duke87]

My first cross-country trip was largely on interstates. My second was largely on US routes.

The second trip was certainly more scenic although it did expose me to a particular pitfall I had not considered. When traveling along corridors that are not interstates and not heavily traveled, the availability of hotels along the road can in some cases be sorely lacking. Usually on multiday trips I like to stop and find a room at about 9 PM, twice on that trip I found myself driving until almost midnight because at 9 PM I was still hours away from the next chain hotel along my route. Granted, this is less of a problem if you are willing to stay at a smalltown fleabag motel, sleep in your car, or camp. I suppose I have high standards compared to some.

Also, while (especially out west) you can make pretty good time on US routes, they are still slower than interstates and when you only have so much time to work with this does limit how much ground you can cover. I can do 900-1000 miles in a day on interstates but on US routes the practical limit is more like 700-800 miles.


My recent trip to Missouri featured more of an even mix of interstate and non-interstate driving. I like this best of both worlds type scenario and will likely plan future trips accordingly.

[froggie]

The second trip was certainly more scenic although it did expose me to a particular pitfall I had not considered. When traveling along corridors that are not interstates and not heavily traveled, the availability of hotels along the road can in some cases be sorely lacking. Usually on multiday trips I like to stop and find a room at about 9 PM, twice on that trip I found myself driving until almost midnight because at 9 PM I was still hours away from the next chain hotel along my route. Granted, this is less of a problem if you are willing to stay at a smalltown fleabag motel, sleep in your car, or camp. I suppose I have high standards compared to some.

The other solution to this is to plan ahead and make realistic expectations on how far you'll get in a given day, and make hotel reservations as appropriate.  This is what we did on our 2005 trip (which involved a large amount of non-Interstate travel).  Sure, you may not cover as much distance as you'd like, but you have more control over your hotel options.

Another good rule of thumb is that towns with a 5-digit or high-4-digit population will likely have at least one major chain hotel.