What highway would be the biggest pain in the ass to clinch?

[bugo]

What highway would be the biggest pain in the ass to clinch? I nominate US 1. It goes through the middle of multiple cities and long stretches are two lanes. It must take several hours to go through New Jersey and New York alone. Several other east coast US routes would probably also be very annoying to clinch. I'm thinking the east-west US routes wouldn't be as bad because you can usually make good time west of the Mississippi, even on 2 lane routes.

Roads that are basically unclinchable under normal circumstances do not count. Highways that enter military bases, prisons or other restricted areas are not within the scope of this thread.

[vdeane]

Highways that end at international borders may count, depending on how strict one is with clinching (I'll count turning around before customs for land crossings but not for bridges as clinched, for example) and if they aren't considered to be "unclinchable under normal circumstances", since one needs to have an excuse ready for crossing the border and for the specific route taken just in case customs decides to ask.  US 1 also falls under this category in addition to everything mentioned before, and it's a pretty out of the way area of both Maine and New Brunswick too.

[oscar]

US 1 is also poorly signed in some of the cities it passes through. That's also a problem for some other US routes.

Border crossings can also be a pain, especially for routes ending at the Mexican border, which depending on your standards for clinching may mean not just bringing your passport and subjecting yourself to customs hassles in both directions (usually worse returning to the U.S.), but also purchasing Mexican auto insurance since unlike Canada your U.S. insurance doesn't work there. Even the friendlier Canadian border crossings can be an issue for those Canada won't let in (DUI is among the excludable criminal offenses).

[Mapmikey]

US 1 through New Jersey isn't bad until maybe north of Newark and it didn't happen to be atrocious the day I actually drove this.

US 1 through Connecticut is painful.  I don't believe the speed limit tops 35 until you get to the eastern third of the state and it took me over 5 hours.

US 1 from Fort Lauderdale southward can be very difficult.

Other painful ones I am personally familiar with:
US 202 is slow for the majority of its PA, NJ, NY and CT parts.
US 13 is extremely difficult in Pennsylvania as multiple turns in Phila are not signed (SB there are 3 straight turns unsigned)
US 250 is very slow for terrain reasons on very long stretches in WV and VA

[cl94]

I'd put US 11 in the conversation. That's one of the very few border locations where you can't even justify a sight clinch, as the US customs checkpoint is a mile inside the US. North of Harrisburg, the route can be painful to drive on due to truck traffic. Any of the routes that enter New York City are a PITA to clinch (US 1 included here); NY 27 is THE most painful route in NY to clinch, hands down. Might only be 120 miles long, but you're probably looking at 5+ hours one way even with the expressway section in western Suffolk.

If we include stuff requiring ferries, I nominate AK 7. Not particularly long, but you need to use a minimum of 4 ferries to clinch the thing in your own car. The other alternative is taking a series of puddle jump flights.

Believe it or not, US 1 through NJ is actually relatively fast. When the Pulaski Skyway is open, it's 1.5-2 hours for the 70 or so miles from the Delaware to the Hudson. It's almost all expressway grade. In normal traffic, it will take at least 1.5 hours to get through New York's 20 miles, though. I did a lot of the NY stretch at night, in pieces, or via unconventional means to ease the pain.

US 1 through Connecticut is painful.  I don't believe the speed limit tops 35 until you get to the eastern third of the state and it took me over 5 hours.

Other painful ones I am personally familiar with:
US 202 is slow for the majority of its PA, NJ, NY and CT parts.

YES. US 202 is a glorified county route in North Jersey and NY. US 1 in CT being painful is why I only have a small part of it: just too damn slow to make it part of a longer trip.

[vdeane]

I think US 1 in CT and ME is THE reason why clinching the New England US routes is not on my todo list (also the numerous alternates in Maine).

In Canada, I'll nominate TCH 16.  Unfortunately, it does not end in Prince Rupert, but takes the ferry to Skidegate and then goes another 60-70 miles to Massett... requiring a deadhead back to the ferry!  While I'd like to clinch the entire TCH, I may instead decide to settle for TCH 1 (plus the remainder of the mainline through ON/QC/NB/NS/NL and the loop to PEI).

[jp the roadgeek]

I nominate US 2.  Have to drive either through Canada or down around the Great Lakes to bridge the 1000+ gap between the two sections.

Also, US 10 during the winter months.

[oscar]

In Canada, I'll nominate TCH 16.  Unfortunately, it does not end in Prince Rupert, but takes the ferry to Skidegate and then goes another 60-70 miles to Massett... requiring a deadhead back to the ferry!  While I'd like to clinch the entire TCH, I may instead decide to settle for TCH 1 (plus the remainder of the mainline through ON/QC/NB/NS/NL and the loop to PEI).

Of course, the rest of the TCH system requires ferry crossings at both ends (to Vancouver Island on the west, Newfoundland island on the east), plus the ferry connecting the east end of PEI's TCH segment to TCH 106 in Nova Scotia. At least frequency of service is better than the Prince Rupert-Skidegate route, and there are alternate routes off those islands, including for Vancouver Island ferries taking you directly to the U.S.

[cl94]

I nominate US 2.  Have to drive either through Canada or down around the Great Lakes to bridge the 1000+ gap between the two sections.

Also, US 10 during the winter months.

Are we considering US 2 to be a single route, though? I know AASHTO considers it to be two separate sections, the only US route I know of where this is the case and always was the case.

[froggie]

At a state level, arguments could be made for VT 100 (longest state route and very slow in many locations), VT 58 or VT 108 (seasonal winter closures), or VT 65 (gravel, semi-hidden, and a one-lane floating bridge).

As I'm more of a "border crossing purist" than vdeane, I'd also include all the routes that cross the border (especially Interstate routes), as "turning around before customs" can be seen as suspicious and a reason for Border Patrol to chase you down even if you're not doing anything illegal.

[oscar]

As I'm more of a "border crossing purist" than vdeane, I'd also include all the routes that cross the border (especially Interstate routes), as "turning around before customs" can be seen as suspicious and a reason for Border Patrol to chase you down even if you're not doing anything illegal.

Same here. That said, I appreciate the routes that stop short of the border, such as I-19 in Arizona (but not its business route), I-35 and the three suffixed I-69_ routes in Texas, and CA 7 and 111 in Calexico, all of which I clinched without crossing into Mexico.

[hbelkins]

Any that aren't continuous routes due to gaps, especially those which require backtracking.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I found MN 1 to be a giant pain if you're not just doing it in a straight shot, and even then both of its termini take some effort to reach. It only goes through one city of any significance in 345 miles, has a lot of lengthy duplexes and sudden changes in directional alignment, and it's not near anything.

[sparker]

Considering the north end (WTF that happens to be at the time!) features toll facilities, some of them regularly congested; the middle end passes through the center of cities (Richmond, Petersburg) before jumping on and off a neighboring Interstate but generally slogging through small/medium-sized towns, and once away from the Interstate, passes through one speed trap after another -- I'd have to say US 301.  An old friend of mine who originally hailed from the NYC area and who, with his family, regularly schlepped down 301 to Florida and back at least once a year in the early '60's to visit relocated family around St. Petersburg, has horror stories about either being pulled over or tailed for miles on end (apparently NY, NJ, or CT license plates triggered such activity along 301) during those travels.  Of course, the cash cow ceased giving milk (for the most part) when I-95 was completed.     

[NE2]

AK 7? Multiple segments with ferries connecting their midpoints.

[oscar]

AK 7? Multiple segments with ferries connecting their midpoints.

Travel Mapping treats them all as separate highways, each of which could be clinched separately (such as in cars rented at airports) without taking the connecting ferries or even the short access roads to the ferry terminals. Except for the Haines segment, the only ferry terminal is mid-segment, so you can't take a ferry to one end, drive to the other, and catch another ferry to get to the next segment.

Why the segments all have the same route number is a mystery. My wild-assed guess is the original plan post-statehood was to build bridges and roads to link all four segments, but then Alaska DOT&PF came to its senses.

[MNHighwayMan]

I found MN 1 to be a giant pain if you're not just doing it in a straight shot, and even then both of its termini take some effort to reach. It only goes through one city of any significance in 345 miles, has a lot of lengthy duplexes and sudden changes in directional alignment, and it's not near anything.

Which one of Thief River Falls or Ely isn't significant? IMO, there's two.

[vdeane]

Of course, the rest of the TCH system requires ferry crossings at both ends (to Vancouver Island on the west, Newfoundland island on the east), plus the ferry connecting the east end of PEI's TCH segment to TCH 106 in Nova Scotia. At least frequency of service is better than the Prince Rupert-Skidegate route, and there are alternate routes off those islands, including for Vancouver Island ferries taking you directly to the U.S.

True, though the fact that the Prince Rupert ferry is so remote doesn't help.  The other ferries allow some form of looping rather than being a strict deadhead, too.

As I'm more of a "border crossing purist" than vdeane, I'd also include all the routes that cross the border (especially Interstate routes), as "turning around before customs" can be seen as suspicious and a reason for Border Patrol to chase you down even if you're not doing anything illegal.

I deliberately turned around as far away from the booths as I could and still see to the border when I did them to minimize the changes of this.  Of the 8 roads I clinched like this (NY 374, NY 189, NY 22, I-87, US 11, VT 225, I-89, and I-91), one I've since been through the border, and two others have been removed from the touring route system.  The only one I really have ambition to fix is US 11 (since it is nearly a mile to the border, and while the road is straight with good visibility, it's a really sketchy clinch), though I'm not sure when I'll have the opportunity to so.  The reviews of the crossing on Google Maps suggest that it can have quite the wait time, so "trying to avoid the line on I-87" may not be a great excuse for diverting there, either.

I didn't like my "clinch" of NY 374 either (unfortunately the road curves there, and it was so close to the border that I turned back before the booths were visible).  At least that one is moot now.

[oscar]

The only one I really have ambition to fix is US 11 (since it is nearly a mile to the border, and while the road is straight with good visibility, it's a really sketchy clinch), though I'm not sure when I'll have the opportunity to so.  The reviews of the crossing on Google Maps suggest that it can have quite the wait time, so "trying to avoid the line on I-87" may not be a great excuse for diverting there, either.

I did that crossing when traffic was light. That one, a road-geek type explanation (change of pace, also that I was planning on returning home on back roads including big chunks of US 11 in NY and PA, so I wanted to start there) actually worked. YMMV, though if you have US 11 stuff from your college days that you can casually display in your car, that might help.

[froggie]

I deliberately turned around as far away from the booths as I could and still see to the border when I did them to minimize the changes of this.

By most regards, that's not an actual clinch then.  But I suppose there are different definitions of such just as there are different definitions amongst some regarding county visitation.

[cl94]

I deliberately turned around as far away from the booths as I could and still see to the border when I did them to minimize the changes of this.

By most regards, that's not an actual clinch then.  But I suppose there are different definitions of such just as there are different definitions amongst some regarding county visitation.

Eh, the community is pretty evenly split on border clinches. Among the chat regulars, the opinion is that sight clinches count for borders if you can see the border from where you turn around AND you turn around at the last legal location. Of course, I have crossed the border at all locations where an NY route currently ends at the border, so I do have NY clinched without any fudging.

I'd argue that US 5 can be done legitimately without crossing the border (I literally walked the last 50 yards and stuck my hand out to clinch it back in September). But other than those cases, I accept fudging with an asterisk if an international border or military installation (NJ 68, for example) prevents one from getting the last ~1/4 mile or less without entering.

[Max Rockatansky]

CA 173 would be pretty difficult to clinch considering 6.9 miles in the dirt segment is closed to traffic.  The only way that clinch is getting done is by foot or by bike. 

[MNHighwayMan]

I've never crossed an international border, so forgive me if this is a dumb question. But, for example, if you're just trying to clinch a route that crosses into Canada, do the Canadian border patrol actually ask why you're crossing into Canada? I mean, aside from the time hassle, is there any other reason to not cross the border for maximum completeness?

[oscar]

I've never crossed an international border, so forgive me if this is a dumb question. But, for example, if you're just trying to clinch a route that crosses into Canada, do the Canadian border patrol actually ask why you're crossing into Canada? I mean, aside from the time hassle, is there any other reason to not cross the border for maximum completeness?

They hope that you plan on doing conventional touristy things, preferably involving your spending lots of money. They also try to find out if you really have some suspicious or strange reason for entering Canada, or plan on doing something they don't like such as smuggling drugs or kiddie porn (sometimes mentioned as a bogus reason to search your laptop), or taking jobs away from Canadians. Route-clinching and other roadgeeky reasons are often to them in the "suspicious or strange" category.

They won't turn you away without better reason, but they can subject you to a vehicle search, which is not a pleasant beginning for your visit to Canada.

After an implausibly short visit to Canada, U.S. border agents might wonder what you were really doing up there, and whether you're bringing back drugs, kiddie porn, etc. (border agents on both sides of the border seem to think that stuff is more abundant on the other side of the border), so you might draw a PITA vehicle search on your return to the U.S.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I've never crossed an international border, so forgive me if this is a dumb question. But, for example, if you're just trying to clinch a route that crosses into Canada, do the Canadian border patrol actually ask why you're crossing into Canada? I mean, aside from the time hassle, is there any other reason to not cross the border for maximum completeness?

In addition to what oscar said, there's also no way to "withdraw" your intent to enter, so even if you tell them you do not actually want to enter the country they're either not legally allowed or not interested in simply letting you turn around and come back without a valid reason as to why you came to the border crossing in the first place. (Mom and I discovered this the hard way a number of years ago)