The "Mount Rushmore" of roads in every state.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Louisiana:

LA 1- Longest state Highway from northern border to the coast. Lots of miles for a small state - over 400. While the only major/large city it serves is Shreveport, you can see the state capitol building from across the river.

I-10 - Major transportation corridor for the Gulf Coast and pretty darn busy inter regional highway for all the large cities it covers: Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Slidell. Swampy scenic highway you won't see the likes of on many other interstates and the infrastructure of bridges alone is unmatched. Passes by some Louisiana iconics: State Capitol building (tallest one in the 50 states I think), LSU Stadium, the pumps of New Orleans, and the French Quarter. I think you can see the Quarter from 10, if not, it has its own exit (in French!)

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway/Tollway- longest over water bridge in the world.

LA 6 - Part of the Camino Real and major highway through Natchitoches, the oldest permanent settlement in Louisiana (1714). The original alignment downtown is very historic and looks like the French architecture in New Orleans.


iPhone

I never would have thought about LA 6. It makes sense now after your explanation.

I would have put your other 3 choices & US 80 on my Mt Rushmore. US 80 is fairly unaltered except for a few bridge replacements and 2 route adjustments through Tremont Bottoms & Russell Sage wildlife area.

My variation on Louisiana would be...

Airline Hwy (Huey Long's signature road project)
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway/Tollway
I-10 causeway between Baton Rouge & Lafayette
The underground garage for Harrah's casino (because that was the only part of the Riverfront Expwy in New Orleans that was ever built)

[index]

North Carolina:

I-40/I-95/Blue Ridge Parkway/NC-12

I'd have to disagree with I-95 being important or iconic for NC, for most of us I-95 is an afterthought and it doesn't serve very much of the state's population, seeing a lot of thru traffic through the state. I'd probably have put I-85 instead, due to it linking most of our major metro areas and being a pretty important route for most.

[J3ebrules]

Iconic and important - I will argue - are very different!

Iconic for Jersey - the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway are obviously state icons. I'll argue for two lesser ones, though, for their historic value...

- the Pulaski Skyway, a literal landmark and one of the first "superhighways"  in the country.
- The LINCOLN HIGHWAY - now a few different routes in NJ, but we can pull out US 1, famous for many reasons, including it (and its US 9 concurrency) being the site of the first cloverleaf interchange.

[jemacedo9]

Pennsylvania - four most iconic:

1.  PA Turnpike - "America's First Superhighway"
2.  US 30 - Lincoln Highway
3.  US 22
4.  US 6 across the Northern Tier

[Max Rockatansky]

I don't think anyone has done Nevada so here goes:

-  The Lincoln Highway has a huge following in Nevada and was the first true automotive road across the state. 
-  US 50 gets a lot of interest for the Loneliest Road section but I'd argue that the route through Cave Rock carries a ton of significance which also ties back to the South Lincoln Highway.
-  US 93/US 466 from Boulder City to Hoover Dam was hugely iconic in it's time and still is a big draw as NV 172. 
-  Las Vegas Boulevard (US 91/US 466) for obvious reasons given the southeast part of the state really grew up around gambling. 

[Henry]

I don't think WA is done yet, so here are the top four:

I-5: The West Coast's Main Street
I-82: Shortcut from Seattle to Salt Lake/Denver
I-90: The longest 2di ends in Seattle
WA 99: Historic N-S route through the state that was taken over by I-5, but still exists in Seattle-Tacoma area, including historic Alaskan Way viaduct and its tunnel replacement

[US 89]

-  The Lincoln Highway has a huge following in Nevada

Even east of Ely? 

[Max Rockatansky]

-  The Lincoln Highway has a huge following in Nevada

Even east of Ely? 

Probably depends if you're heading towards Dugway on the earliest alignment or West Wendover on the later alignment.  Didn't the Lincoln Highway Association just do the replica 1919 military convoy on the early Dugway alignment?

[bassoon1986]

Louisiana:

LA 1- Longest state Highway from northern border to the coast. Lots of miles for a small state - over 400. While the only major/large city it serves is Shreveport, you can see the state capitol building from across the river.

I-10 - Major transportation corridor for the Gulf Coast and pretty darn busy inter regional highway for all the large cities it covers: Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Slidell. Swampy scenic highway you won't see the likes of on many other interstates and the infrastructure of bridges alone is unmatched. Passes by some Louisiana iconics: State Capitol building (tallest one in the 50 states I think), LSU Stadium, the pumps of New Orleans, and the French Quarter. I think you can see the Quarter from 10, if not, it has its own exit (in French!)

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway/Tollway- longest over water bridge in the world.

LA 6 - Part of the Camino Real and major highway through Natchitoches, the oldest permanent settlement in Louisiana (1714). The original alignment downtown is very historic and looks like the French architecture in New Orleans.


iPhone

I never would have thought about LA 6. It makes sense now after your explanation.

I would have put your other 3 choices & US 80 on my Mt Rushmore. US 80 is fairly unaltered except for a few bridge replacements and 2 route adjustments through Tremont Bottoms & Russell Sage wildlife area.

My variation on Louisiana would be...

Airline Hwy (Huey Long's signature road project)
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway/Tollway
I-10 causeway between Baton Rouge & Lafayette
The underground garage for Harrah's casino (because that was the only part of the Riverfront Expwy in New Orleans that was ever built)

I like your choices and cjk374 on US 80, too. That was another historic one. Dixie Overland Hwy.


iPhone

[-- US 175 --]

Texas:

With as many roads to choose from as TX has, one person's 4-on-Rushmore could be different from someone else's.  Here goes nothin'...

* I-35.  Has to be on a TX list, with many of the state's big metros, seemingly endless construction, and always attracts lots of traffic and phenomenal economic growth.
* I-10.  Connects several TX metros, spans almost all climate and geographic landforms in the state, and where else would you see an Exit 880?
* Route 66.  Yes, it was largely supplanted by I-40 in TX, but still is an attraction for travelers and history buffs alike.
* TX 21/TX OSR.  Maybe not what many would choose, but it still deserves a place at the table in some way.  The Old San Antonio Road was one of the original organized paths/roads in the state, leading to the earliest Spanish/French colonizations and the beginnings of American/European settlement in what would become Texas.  Nacogdoches, the oldest town in the state, was founded along the road in 1779.

[sparker]

For CA:

(1a)  I-5, for obvious reasons; main N-S artery, LA's & SD's arguable "main street", longest, yadda yadda........but--
(1b) US 101, mainstay of much of CA from coast to about 40-50 miles inland north of LA, including Bay Area.
(2)   I-15; it serves as the collector from several routes coming in from the east (I-40, I-70) and distributes it to
       greater L.A. and, since the '80's, S.D.
(3)   CA 99 (and its US predecessor) -- former main N-S artery, still major regional server and commercial conduit.

Honorable mention:  I-10 (L.A.-Southern Tier), I-40/CA 58 combination (commercial artery, historical "dust bowl" emigration route as US 66 & 466), I-80 (and old US 40) -- how lots of folks got into the northern part of the state and how they got around once here. 

[sprjus4]

* I-35.  Has to be on a TX list, with many of the state's big metros, seemingly endless construction, and always attracts lots of traffic and phenomenal economic growth.

I-35 is also a major freight corridor that links to Laredo, the largest Mexico-United States truck gateway by far.

[US 89]

-  The Lincoln Highway has a huge following in Nevada

Even east of Ely? 

Probably depends if you’re heading towards Dugway on the earliest alignment or West Wendover on the later alignment.  Didn’t the Lincoln Highway Association just do the replica 1919 military convoy on the early Dugway alignment?

Not quite, because a good portion of the original Lincoln Highway alignment is completely closed to the public on the Dugway military grounds. It looks like the replica convoy connected from Dugway to Fish Springs on the Pony Express road, which is a bit south of the original Lincoln routing but still is a pretty good approximation of the 1919 route.

Point being, how many people drive across the Utah desert on shitty roads just to follow the Lincoln Highway? I feel like most Lincoln followers in Nevada would favor the later 93/Alt 93 routing up to Wendover.

[Konza]

* I-35.  Has to be on a TX list, with many of the state's big metros, seemingly endless construction, and always attracts lots of traffic and phenomenal economic growth.

I-35 is also a major freight corridor that links to Laredo, the largest Mexico-United States truck gateway by far.

You'd have to give at least some consideration to I-45, which connects the state's two largest metro areas and continues to the Gulf.  Not sure The Mother Road is as important in Texas as it is in at least five of the other states it crosses.

[Jmiles32]

I'll do Maryland:

US-50/301 Chesapeake Bay Bridge- The most important bridge in the entire state is arguably also the worst bottleneck.
I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway- Circles the Nation's Capital and carry's the main street of the east coast(I-95)
I-695 Baltimore Beltway- Circles Maryland's biggest city
I-68 or I-70- Gotta give Western Maryland some love too!

[Max Rockatansky]

-  The Lincoln Highway has a huge following in Nevada

Even east of Ely? 

Probably depends if you're heading towards Dugway on the earliest alignment or West Wendover on the later alignment.  Didn't the Lincoln Highway Association just do the replica 1919 military convoy on the early Dugway alignment?

Not quite, because a good portion of the original Lincoln Highway alignment is completely closed to the public on the Dugway military grounds. It looks like the replica convoy connected from Dugway to Fish Springs on the Pony Express road, which is a bit south of the original Lincoln routing but still is a pretty good approximation of the 1919 route.

Point being, how many people drive across the Utah desert on shitty roads just to follow the Lincoln Highway? I feel like most Lincoln followers in Nevada would favor the later 93/Alt 93 routing up to Wendover.

Off-road/overland enthusiasts would likely be interested if the original alignment was open through the Dugway Proving Ground.  I'm surprised that the convey route avoided so much of the original routes looking at the map they published..granted it was more of a ceremonial emulation as opposed to original convoy trying to prove cross-country travel was viable.  Speaking for myself I've done a couple historic highway alignments through the desert that took 3-5 days to complete in a proper vehicle.  Trips like that tend to be way more of a thrill ride over driving around on even the most haggard paved roads.  Definitely not mainstream by any measure but it definitely has it's demographic.  Even highways like US 66 in California have purists (usually the National Old Trails Road people) that insist on driving any available rail frontage road that's accessible out in the Mojave.  Even the Lincoln Highway crowd here in California tends to seek out as many early alignments of the highway as possible (myself included as a somewhat frequent contributor on the Facebook groups). 

[-- US 175 --]

* I-35.  Has to be on a TX list, with many of the state's big metros, seemingly endless construction, and always attracts lots of traffic and phenomenal economic growth.

I-35 is also a major freight corridor that links to Laredo, the largest Mexico-United States truck gateway by far.

You'd have to give at least some consideration to I-45, which connects the state's two largest metro areas and continues to the Gulf.

I did consider it, but I guess I didn't want the list to look like it was all about interstates, as there are so many other roads to consider in TX.  Guess it's more difficult to whittle a list like this down to 4.

Not sure The Mother Road is as important in Texas as it is in at least five of the other states it crosses.

Sure, definitely a point with TX having the second-shortest Route 66 mileage.  I guess it's good that Mount Rushmore profiles people and not roads  😉

[JCinSummerfield]

My take on Michigan would be:

I-75
M-1
M-28
M-119

[Flint1979]

For Ohio
I-80
I-75
I-71
US-35

[Flint1979]

For Indiana
I-80
I-69
I-65
US-31

[ilpt4u]

For Indiana
I-80
I-69
I-70
I-65
US-31

FTFY

Only other one I would consider, for historical purposes, is the old Dixie Highway

[thspfc]

I-80
Indiana Toll Road
I-69
I-65
US-31

FTFY

What is the significance of I-80 over 90? If anything, I would argue that 90 is more iconic because it is the entirety of the Toll Road.

[ilpt4u]

I-80
Indiana Toll Road
I-69
I-65
US-31

FTFY

What is the significance of I-80 over 90? If anything, I would argue that 90 is more iconic because it is the entirety of the Toll Road.

Once they split @ Lake Station, I-80/94 has higher traffic counts over the rest of the Toll Road leading to the Skyway

I would leave I-80>I-90 in Indiana

[JKRhodes]

Arizona:

I-17: Arizona's 2DI intrastate interstate, connecting Phoenix with Flagstaff. Major shift in elevation, scenery and culture.

I-15: Arizona's 2DI pene-enclave, basically only accessible by car through Utah or Nevada. Beautiful drive through the rugged Virgin River Gorge

US 191: Over one mile gain in elevation, 400+ slow curves, traversing some of the most remote terrain in the USA along with one of the largest copper mines in the world.

AZ-64: Gateway to the Grand Canyon.

[Max Rockatansky]

Arizona:

I-17: Arizona's 2DI intrastate interstate, connecting Phoenix with Flagstaff. Major shift in elevation, scenery and culture.

I-15: Arizona's 2DI pene-enclave, basically only accessible by car through Utah or Nevada. Beautiful drive through the rugged Virgin River Gorge

US 191: Over one mile gain in elevation, 400+ slow curves, traversing some of the most remote terrain in the USA along with one of the largest copper mines in the world.

AZ-64: Gateway to the Grand Canyon.

But iconic?  As important as I-17 is it's path was blazed by a combination of AZ 69 and US 89. US 91 was the least impactful of the US Routes in Arizona and I-15 doesn't even touch a segment of Arizona that isn't separated from the rest of the state by the Colorado River.  US 191 maybe gets in by the infamy of US 666 and the beast that is the Coronado Trail.  Most people don't think of AZ 64 when it comes to the Grand Canyon, they think of US 66...even though it was a fair bit to the south.