Optimal Routes by Car from the Geographic Center of the U.S. to All Counties

[adventurernumber1]

I found this incredibly interesting picture when I was browsing Instagram (a social media app) a few days ago (I am not on Instagram much, but I have an account and am on from time to time - much of the content I view and post is related to roads and maps), and this would definitely appeal to us road enthusiasts. Basically, this map, only regarding the contiguous (lower-48) United States, is showing the best route to every single county (in all lower-48 states) from the geographical center from the mainland of the country (assuming this map is accurate and correct). I found this so intriguing, and it was sort of like a puzzle to figure out which roads are on this map, since there are no state borders or roads specifically labeled. This was really, really neat to look at. Since I could detect the outline of the state of Michigan, I noticed that one of the routes on this map even goes through some of Canada - the most direct route from the contiguous U.S. geographic center to some counties in the northern parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and maybe Maine as well. I could detect the outlines of many major roads and interstates across the country, especially in my own neck of the woods. This has truly got to be one of the coolest maps I've ever seen in my entire life, and I've seen a lot of really good ones. There's a lot of really interesting and unusual maps like this all over the internet, including on Instagram where I found this one. I thought I would share it here with y'all since it is so road and transportation oriented, and it has to do with the best routes from Point A to, in this case, many different Point B's.

[Bickendan]

Amusing that travel through Ontario and Quebec are needed for a few counties.

[froggie]

^ Yes.  For many of us in Northern New England, the North Country (of New York) or the St. Lawrence Valley, it's shorter and faster to get to the Midwest by cutting through southern Ontario (despite Toronto traffic).  The thicker line in the upper right region of that map basically follows ON 402, ON 401, A-20, A-30, A-10, and A-55.

[jeffandnicole]

What's Instragram? Lol

Anyway..it seems definitely wheel-spoke based. Is one supposed to constantly backtrack to move onward to the next county? Aren't there roads for one to loop around? I'm trying to look at NJ (the images are a bit fuzzy on my phone) and it seems like the map misses some fairly easy ways to hit a county and continue on.

[hotdogPi]

What's Instragram? Lol

Anyway..it seems definitely wheel-spoke based. Is one supposed to constantly backtrack to move onward to the next county? Aren't there roads for one to loop around? I'm trying to look at NJ (the images are a bit fuzzy on my phone) and it seems like the map misses some fairly easy ways to hit a county and continue on.

They're all separate lines. After reaching the target county, you're done; the next one is an entirely different trip, starting from the beginning.

[jeffandnicole]

What's Instragram? Lol

Anyway..it seems definitely wheel-spoke based. Is one supposed to constantly backtrack to move onward to the next county? Aren't there roads for one to loop around? I'm trying to look at NJ (the images are a bit fuzzy on my phone) and it seems like the map misses some fairly easy ways to hit a county and continue on.

They're all separate lines. After reaching the target county, you're done; the next one is an entirely different trip, starting from the beginning.

Ah, I see.

Ok then...

[hbelkins]

Anyone got a high-quality enlargement of that image?

[jon daly]

https://tjukanov.org/roadsofamerica/

[webny99]

Interesting that it routes you through Canada to get to Niagara County, but through Ohio to get to next door Orleans County.
Almost all the heavily-traveled routes are interstates, which is unsurprising.

^ Yes. For many of us in Northern New England, the North Country (of New York) or the St. Lawrence Valley, it's shorter and faster to get to the Midwest by cutting through southern Ontario (despite Toronto traffic).

The incredibly overpriced solution to Toronto's traffic.

[DTComposer]

Interesting to me that some of the counties in central California get approached from I-15/CA-58 rather than I-80 - notably Monterey and San Benito Counties.

Also, the route to the center of Ventura County takes (leaving I-15) CA-138/CA-14/CA-126, as opposed to I-210/CA-134/US-101. Are these routes "optimized" by distance, speed, most time on freeways? Even with L.A. traffic that first routing doesn't seem as "optimal" to me.

[sparker]

Interesting to me that some of the counties in central California get approached from I-15/CA-58 rather than I-80 - notably Monterey and San Benito Counties.

Also, the route to the center of Ventura County takes (leaving I-15) CA-138/CA-14/CA-126, as opposed to I-210/CA-134/US-101. Are these routes "optimized" by distance, speed, most time on freeways? Even with L.A. traffic that first routing doesn't seem as "optimal" to me.

That Ventura County route likely uses that portion of CA 18 west of Victorville rather than the "long way around" over Cajon and back over CA 138 heading west.  If that's the case, then yes, that is the optimal route from the I-15-based "trunk" over to Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties; I've done both the corridors north and south of the San Gabriels -- and the desert-bound routing is by far the (a) shortest, and (b) the least nerve-wracking (and this is from a L.A. native!). 

[ftballfan]

Interesting that it routes you through Canada to get to Niagara County, but through Ohio to get to next door Orleans County.
Almost all the heavily-traveled routes are interstates, which is unsurprising.

^ Yes. For many of us in Northern New England, the North Country (of New York) or the St. Lawrence Valley, it's shorter and faster to get to the Midwest by cutting through southern Ontario (despite Toronto traffic).

The incredibly overpriced solution to Toronto's traffic.

Which doesn't get used that much due to its asininely low speed limit (100 km/h; the same as the 401) and it running somewhat out of the way. Speed limit on at least part of the 407 should be 110 or 120 km/h

[webny99]

^ Yes. For many of us in Northern New England, the North Country (of New York) or the St. Lawrence Valley, it's shorter and faster to get to the Midwest by cutting through southern Ontario (despite Toronto traffic).

The incredibly overpriced solution to Toronto's traffic.

Which doesn't get used that much due to its asininely low speed limit (100 km/h; the same as the 401) and it running somewhat out of the way. Speed limit on at least part of the 407 should be 110 or 120 km/h

It gets a decent amount of use. The problem is that more cars that use it, the higher the toll goes. But this also acts as "security" of sorts; demand will never be too high, so the road is guaranteed to be free-flowing, easily offsetting the additional distance, especially at peak travel times.

Ontario doesn't post anything higher than 100 km/h; but the de-facto limit, so I've heard, is 150 km/h. The OPP would rather not ticket you for going under that, since anything over that, and they can suspend your license. I have no idea what enforcement is like on the 407, but traffic seems to be pretty confident moving at 130 km/h on the QEW and segments of the 401. Don't usually see too many cops.

[SD Mapman]

One thing with this is he used OSM directions from the contiguous center to wherever OSM placed the county node, so these routes do go into the county for some distance (the one for my home county goes about 20 miles after it hits the county line). Additionally, GraphHopper isn't the smartest route optimizer in the world either.

It would be interesting to see the best route from the center to the point on each county line closest to the center, but that would be hard.

Also, could someone do this with the real center of the country near Belle Fourche?