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[roadman65]

NE Highway 8 is very lonely from US 75 to US 81. That’s my pick.

If you drive it, please have plenty of gas as all the towns seem to lack services, or if they have them then they’re off the highway.

What’s your picks of lonely highways that you’ve discovered?

[Scott5114]

Just to get it out of the way—US 50 in Nevada is officially named the Loneliest Road in America and, at one time, was signed as such.


(photo by Jake Bear)

[Max Rockatansky]

Doesn’t US 191 have the two lowest AADTs of any US Route?  In particular along the Coronado Trail and somewhere in Wyoming that I can’t recall off the top of my head.

[JayhawkCO]

Doesn’t US 191 have the two lowest AADTs of any US Route?  In particular along the Coronado Trail and somewhere in Wyoming that I can’t recall off the top of my head.

The lowest overall is US191 in Montana at the Canadian border (AADT: 16). The lowest that isn't a border is one of the orphaned segments of US87 in Wyoming (AADT: 52). Looks like US191 in Arizona (AADT: 97) is the 3rd lowest non-border segment after the aforementioned US87 and US19W in North Carolina (AADT: 70)


And then for a nomination, US6 in Nevada actually has a lower AADT than US50, so it's even lonelier.

[gonealookin]

And then for a nomination, US6 in Nevada actually has a lower AADT than US50, so it's even lonelier.

Nevada's north-south state highways that connect I-80 to US 50 and US 50 to US 6 or US 95 are all uniformly empty, with AADT of a few hundred once you get away from the towns at either end.  Not US 93 or US 95, which are reasonably busy, but any of those state routes in the central part of the state work, and most of them are close to 100 miles long.

[CoreySamson]

Recently I took a trip to West Texas, so now I have some perspective on what roads are lonely. Surprisingly TX 54 had a bit of truck traffic. Granted, it wasn't much, but based on what I heard about the route, I expected to not be passing anyone for miles. The real winner, at least from what I could tell on my trip, was US 385 between Fort Stockton and Marathon. That road felt lonelier than anything else that I have been on, maybe except for FM 1053 between Fort Stockton and Odessa, but that one did have the occasional oil tanker.

[Flint1979]

For my own state I nominate US-45 from Ontonagon to Watersmeet. I drove that highway a few summers ago and rarely passed another vehicle. It's about a 55 mile stretch of nothing.

Most of the trip will look like this: https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4485333,-89.1783926,3a,90y,177.32h,92.38t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sgUEqufWR_vJ825sIg79p8g!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DgUEqufWR_vJ825sIg79p8g%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D88.959366%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu

[ZLoth]

Just to get it out of the way—US 50 in Nevada is officially named the Loneliest Road in America and, at one time, was signed as such.

I'd like to get some clarification on what is the "loneliest road" is and what level we are considering. Interstate, US-Route, State Route, County Route?

Two nominations with sections in Nevada:

• Nevada State Route 722 between Middlegate and Austin, Nevada, both ends at US-50. Road is not maintained in winter, and the Google Streetview shots are from 2007.
• US-95 aka the ION highway (Idaho, Oregon, Nevada) between Winnemucca, Nevada and Marsing, Idaho. While there is decent traffic, there are long stretches of road where there are absolutely no services save for a single gas station in Jordan Valley, Rome Station, and McDermitt, not to mention areas where mobile coverage is spotty at best.
• US-6 between Tonopah and Ely, Nevada complete with a warning sign "Next Gas 167 Miles on US-6", and probably qualifies as lonelier than US-50.
• NV-375 aka "The Extraterrestrial Highway"

[JayhawkCO]

I'll also shamelessly remind others of  this post I made a couple years back with highest and lowest AADTs for each kind of road. It's probably not 100% accurate now, but close enough.

[kphoger]

The real winner, at least from what I could tell on my trip, was US 385 between Fort Stockton and Marathon. That road felt lonelier than anything else that I have been on, maybe except for FM 1053 between Fort Stockton and Odessa, but that one did have the occasional oil tanker.

I've driven both of them, and yes, I remember both of them being quite desolate—especially compared to TX-18 nearby.

[Max Rockatansky]

The real winner, at least from what I could tell on my trip, was US 385 between Fort Stockton and Marathon. That road felt lonelier than anything else that I have been on, maybe except for FM 1053 between Fort Stockton and Odessa, but that one did have the occasional oil tanker.

I've driven both of them, and yes, I remember both of them being quite desolate—especially compared to TX-18 nearby.

Even south of Marathon to Big Bend National Park doesn’t have much traffic.  I didn’t pass a single car coming the opposite way when I drove it in 2013.

[jmacswimmer]

Didn't go too far, but I drove CA 62 heading east out of Twentynine Palms a couple weeks ago. It drops from the 4 lanes its maintained since I-10 to 2, then passes this ominous sign similar to the I-70 Utah situation.

A quick peek at Caltrans's traffic data map shows an AADT of 5300 west of the Utah Trail intersection (which leads to the Twentynine Palms entrance to Joshua Tree National Park), and 3060 east of it. The next data point to the east isn't until the San Bernardino/Riverside county line closer to the CA 177 intersection, which shows an AADT of 860.

We were on that stretch east of Twentynine Palms early in the morning (before heading back into Joshua Tree National Park for most of the day) and the sunrise over the desert from CA 62 was stunning:

[Quillz]

If we can expand beyond the contiguous United States, I think I've seen exactly four other cars on my time spent on the Steese Highway once you leave the Fairbanks area and past the Cleary Summit (which is often used for northern lights viewing). Once you're on AK-6 and past that summit, it's basically absolutely nothing until you hit Circle. I drove about 15-20 miles on it once just to try to find another viewing area, and didn't see a single car in either direction. The four cars in question I saw parked just past the summit, so they were either locals or also watching the sky.

[cl94]

The loneliness of US 50 across Nevada is overstated. I will note that, last I checked, the quietest portion of US 50 in the state in terms of AADT (or damn close to it) was along the US 6 concurrency, while said concurrency is one of the busiest portions of US 6 in the state.

Old US 50 (NV SR 722) west of Austin is d-e-a-d. Most of the rural state routes in Nevada are dead unless they are on a major travel corridor. US 6 is pretty dead east of US 95. And this doesn't even get into Nevada's long spur routes.

Dark horse candidate here: NM 406. If you want dead, that is dead.

[PColumbus73]

I feel like US 421 between Sanford, NC and Greensboro, NC is pretty lonely. When you get on US 421, you're either leaving the Fayetteville or Greensboro area so it feels like a huge drop off between 'busy' and 'empty'.