Most "Accidental" Clinch?

[CoreySamson]

A lot of us roadgeeks tend to plan out trips so that we can purposefully clinch new routes. But was there ever a time where you clinched a route without trying to clinch one at all? I'll go first:

I have two "accidental" clinches of Houston-area toll roads. The first one was that my dad and I took most of the Fort Bend Tollway (from TX 6 to the northern terminus) to go to a car show at NRG Park in Houston. We took the same route on the way back except he missed the exit for TX 6 so we ended up traveling the last mile of the FBT completely accidentally, clinching the route.

The second one, the Hardy Toll Road, was a bit different. Last year, I was on a charter bus going to a youth camp about an hour north of Houston, and the fastest way there was to take I-45 most of the way. However, the bus driver's GPS routed him at the I-45/I-610 interchange to jog over to the Hardy Toll Road (supposedly to avoid traffic?). That trip ended up netting me all of the Hardy Toll Road in one fell swoop, even though I had never even intended to ever go on that road, which puts this clinch on a whole other level of unlikeliness than the last one.

So do y'all have any of these "accidental" clinches?

[Max Rockatansky]

Depends on what you mean?  Are we talking about what TM defines as a route clinch or can it be any highway?  If so, Cat Canyon Road certainly wasn't something I was expecting to clinch.  I stumbled upon it after clinching CA 135 and was looking for a way to get to the eastern terminus or former CA 176 in Sisquoc.  Cat Canyon Road certainly became unexpectedly notable when it became this:

https://flic.kr/p/24v88AR

Worth noting, I tend to go for roads and highway that I think will be interesting versus sign routes.  Stumbling upon such a road while out doing more traditional sign route clinches was very unique and unexpected.  Normally I am much more prepared for stuff the likes of Cat Canyon.  I'm not sure if I'd call it my "all time"  most notable but it does spring to mind along with the likes of "counterfeit"  CA 130 east of Mount Hamilton.

[MATraveler128]

I accidentally clinched RI 37 on a family trip.

[JayhawkCO]

I guess I can bring up this example. I was 9 years old and we were driving back from my grandparents' house in Arizona to our house in Minnesota. My dad made me the navigator since I liked maps. When we got near Emporia, KS, I told my dad we needed to exit to stay on I-35. He thought instead he was supposed to stay on the turnpike to make it shorter, and we ended up clinching I-335 where upon reaching Topeka, all the hotels were sold out due to the Miss Kansas pageant. We drove onward to KC and couldn't find a hotel there either. We ended up staying the night in Cameron, MO, getting in at 12:30 or so because my did didn't listen to me. He still doesn't live it down.

[Bickendan]

My most recent one was in March while in India, as my driver decided the routing. I had half expected a slog down NH 44 from Delhi to Agra, but wound up with a full clinch of the Yamuna Expressway (a very lightly traveled six lane toll expressway) and most of the Greater Noida Expressway (a very busy six-laner which had sections where the lane marking just didn't exist).

India's signage leaves much to be desired compared to the US, but works decently in terms of navigating by control city (via overhead BGS), at least in Uttar Pradesh. Exit signage, and interchanges themselves, however, leave much to be desired, though that might be less of an issue on some of the National Expressway facilities (neither the Greater Noida nor the Yamuna are part of the NE network, though AH 1 is routed on both).

Oh, and if any of you have a chance to go to India, do take a tour to visit the Taj Mahal. It is incredible.

[JKRhodes]

One day when I was a teenager, driving around Phoenix in search of an auto salvage yard, I accidentally clinched all 2.1 miles of Arizona State Route 153 back when it was part of the state highway system.

[SkyPesos]

I-675 GA. On one of my family trips to Florida, we made a stop in Atlanta for the night. The next day, my dad intended to continue on I-75 SB from downtown Atlanta, but ended up getting onto a ramp to I-20 EB. We ended up taking US 23 to I-675 to get back to I-75, and ended up clinching all of I-675 from that mishap.
Also, this section of I-20 is the only part of I-20 I've been on. Otherwise, I would've never been on I-20 at all.

[pderocco]

Since "clinching" wasn't a "thing" for me until 20 years ago or so, any road I drove in its entirety before then would have been an "accidental" clinch. That would include I-5 and I-10 back in the '90s, although I think I was aware of finishing the latter. When I got systematic about clinching California routes, I took an inventory and found quite a few that I had clinched before intending to.

[74/171FAN]

NJ 208 in 2009 because I was in a church van and not driving.

[catch22]

I-587 in Kingston, New York.

I was intending to get on the northbound Thruway from eastbound NY 28, but took the wrong exit out of the rotary at the Thruway entrance and wound up on I-587 instead.  Took less than two minutes since as Interstates go it's not exactly a long one.

[GaryV]

If by "accidental clinch" you mean happening to clinch a route just because you were driving that way, not deliberately setting out to clinch it, then some of the shorter Michigan highways going to state parks would qualify for me. Plus M-14 (done regularly) and M-6.

[zachary_amaryllis]

It wasn't accidental, but I literally drove like 120 miles (to Sterling), to drive like a mile or so on a new part of CO 14, to re-clinch it.

[1995hoo]

It's not "mappable" on Travel Mapping, but the road that immediately comes to mind for me is the Rand Cut-Off in Colorado (queue jokes about the Dragon Reborn losing a hand). We were coming back from a football game in Laramie and I had meant to take CO-14 to Stove Prairie Road to connect down to Estes Park and follow the scenic route to Denver, but I missed the turn. By the time we reached the visitor center just east of Gould, we knew we had come way too far, so we stopped there and the fellow recommended using the Rand Cut-Off down to CO-125, which we could follow to US-34 near Granby and then connect to Estes Park from there. By the time we reached Granby, my wife was getting extremely grumpy, so we decided just to continue down US-40 past Winter Park to I-70 and to arrive in Denver from the west.

This was the trip I've mentioned occasionally where my wrong turn–more properly, my missing a turn–took us 125 miles out of our way. The roads were certainly scenic, though. It didn't help my wife's mood that by the time we reached our hotel (the Hotel Monaco in Denver) our room wasn't ready, and they couldn't give us a different one because the specific room we had reserved was unique.

The Rand Cut-Off is a dirt road, so I suppose it was kind of appropriate that the rental car was a Dodge Charger (but it wasn't orange).

[Flint1979]

I remember clinching M-199 in the Albion area one time. I got off I-94 then proceeded to follow the route not thinking about clinching it I was just traveling into Albion and M-199 ended up being about 4 miles long so I clinched it without even trying.

[US 89]

I-675 GA. On one of my family trips to Florida, we made a stop in Atlanta for the night. The next day, my dad intended to continue on I-75 SB from downtown Atlanta, but ended up getting onto a ramp to I-20 EB. We ended up taking US 23 to I-675 to get back to I-75, and ended up clinching all of I-675 from that mishap.

Heh, I’ve used that exact route in the opposite direction numerous times in order to bypass traffic on 75. Hardly a mishap.

[hotdogPi]

I can list how I clinched each route. Ordered from most intentional to most accidental.

MA 108: Definitely intentional. In fact, this was walked, not driven. I took the bus to Lake Kenoza, walked around Lake Kenoza (which is right there), 0.9 miles north on 108 to the state line, and then took the bus back.
QC 368: It was my choice to take a loop around ÃŽle d'Orléans.
NH 111A (central): During my meeting with noelbotevera, we convinced his father to take NH 111A to clinch it (we were going to the Robert Frost Farm from Lowell) even though it was four minutes slower.
CA 73: I got most of it early on during one specific trip, but there was a small portion of the free section missing, so I convinced the driver (my mom's dad) to take it.
MA 133: I wanted a day trip to Gloucester, so I did it.
MA 114: I would have gotten everything except the Marblehead segment and the western 1000 feet naturally. The Marblehead segment was for a local play of Mary Poppins, while the westernmost 1000 feet was walked, done intentionally to clinch (plus to get some photos for a college project about Lawrence, its fall, and its recovery), well before I started walking everywhere starting in May 2020.
MA 228: I've been to Hull several times to meet a friend. While there are several ways to get there (and I've done it several ways), one of them clinches MA 228.
MA/NH 150: This is one of the ways to Exeter NH, which I wanted a trip to. I don't remember how I first got the segment south of I-495, but I would have gotten it later via a trip back from Newburyport Choral Society if I hadn't. However, unlike MA 133 listed above, 150 was the natural way rather than choosing 133 over 128.
MA 125: I would have everything except in the North Andover/Haverhill border area naturally. I got that segment by convincing my mom to go that way between two places on 125 as the scenic route. If I hadn't done that, I would have gotten it later via my walks, but doing so would also have been intentionally to clinch.
NH 97: Occasionally (less than once per year) done from one point close to home to another that doesn't require going home first.
I-88 (NY): Accidental, end-to-end on a trip back from Ithaca after accidentally taking NY 96B for a few miles rather than going east and then realizing that 96B to 86/17 to 88 is the best from there.
NH 286: To the beach in a way that didn't involve the entirety of MA 286. Specifically, I don't have the portion in Massachusetts between Main St. and Toll Rd.
A3 (France): This was the fastest way from my hotel in Paris to the wedding I was attending. No choice in which way to go.
GA 13 Connector: It's only about a mile long.
I-290 (MA): 495 → 290 → 90 is a very common way to go. (I've also been on I-395, so no endpoint problems there.)
I-291 (MA): This was apparently listed as part of a trip where I went to a choir competition in East Longmeadow and then to Six Flags (and back), but I'm not sure of my exact routing.
NY/NJ 495: Greyhound bus, no choice.
NJ 90: Greyhound bus, no choice.
MA 213: This is close enough to me that I probably clinch it about once per week.
NY 96B: Accidental, and only the result of thinking we were on the wrong road. See the entry for I-88.
A3215 (England): Isn't this just a one-way slip ramp?

[doorknob60]

I accidentally clinched Nevada's part of US-93 (okay, not quite true, I haven't been to Boulder City/Hoover Dam yet) because I missed the NV-318 turn off driving between Las Vegas and Ely. By the time I realized, we were somewhere around Caliente, and it was faster to keep going on 93 instead of turning around. Unfortunately it was at night, so I couldn't see any of the scenery to make the 40 mile detour feel worthwhile. Also hit a bit of snow in the mountains approaching Ely, not sure if we would have hit any on the other route.

[zachary_amaryllis]

It's not "mappable" on Travel Mapping, but the road that immediately comes to mind for me is the Rand Cut-Off in Colorado (queue jokes about the Dragon Reborn losing a hand). We were coming back from a football game in Laramie and I had meant to take CO-14 to Stove Prairie Road to connect down to Estes Park and follow the scenic route to Denver, but I missed the turn. By the time we reached the visitor center just east of Gould, we knew we had come way too far, so we stopped there and the fellow recommended using the Rand Cut-Off down to CO-125, which we could follow to US-34 near Granby and then connect to Estes Park from there. By the time we reached Granby, my wife was getting extremely grumpy, so we decided just to continue down US-40 past Winter Park to I-70 and to arrive in Denver from the west.

This was the trip I've mentioned occasionally where my wrong turn–more properly, my missing a turn–took us 125 miles out of our way. The roads were certainly scenic, though. It didn't help my wife's mood that by the time we reached our hotel (the Hotel Monaco in Denver) our room wasn't ready, and they couldn't give us a different one because the specific room we had reserved was unique.

The Rand Cut-Off is a dirt road, so I suppose it was kind of appropriate that the rental car was a Dodge Charger (but it wasn't orange).

Well, at one point you passed within about 500 feet of my house. Did you see a fat guy with a blue beard?

[pderocco]

It's not "mappable" on Travel Mapping, but the road that immediately comes to mind for me is the Rand Cut-Off in Colorado (queue jokes about the Dragon Reborn losing a hand). We were coming back from a football game in Laramie and I had meant to take CO-14 to Stove Prairie Road to connect down to Estes Park and follow the scenic route to Denver, but I missed the turn. By the time we reached the visitor center just east of Gould, we knew we had come way too far, so we stopped there and the fellow recommended using the Rand Cut-Off down to CO-125, which we could follow to US-34 near Granby and then connect to Estes Park from there. By the time we reached Granby, my wife was getting extremely grumpy, so we decided just to continue down US-40 past Winter Park to I-70 and to arrive in Denver from the west.

Gee, you missed a chance to drive the highest paved through-road in the United States, in Rocky Mountain NP.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Colorado SH 11 in Julesburg while messing around in April. It's a piece that connects US 138 to the Nebraska border. I'm not sure if N-27 used to connect to it, but if it did it was since truncated south of I-80.

This route could have been turned back 50 years ago and no one would miss it.

[bing101]

I-605, CA-134, CA-170, I-105 are my accidental clinches because the main route I was going to stick with like I-5 were jammed as usual during my time in LA.

[tmoore952]

While thinking about (1) the longest interstate I have not been on and (2) the nearest interstate I have not been on --

I realized that I clinched I-81, but over a period of about 15 years (about 1989-2004). Over half of that was on two trips, one to Ottawa in 2000, and the other to Great Smokey Mountains area in 2004. The PA part south of Scranton/MD all/WV all/VA part north of Strasburg was close enough to me that they were filled in via smaller pleasure trips at one time or another. I enjoyed the part from Harrisburg up to Hazleton enough scenic-wise that sometimes I'd just drive it for fun (when gas was a lot cheaper and I wasn't married).

[TXtoNJ]

I-97 on a bus because there was traffic on I-95 and the Parkway

[CtrlAltDel]

Since my definition of clinching is pretty strict, I don't really have too many that will impress anyone, like I-190 in South Dakota.