The most remote state routes

[dfilpus]

North Carolina: Likely NC 90 to Edgemont, which is unpaved with a 2016 AADT of 100.

[ftballfan]

The lowest I can find in MI (below 1,000):
M-64 along Lake Gogebic: 282 (Gogebic County) and 333 (Ontonagon County)
M-48 between M-134 and Caribou Lake Rd: 301
M-212 (entire length): 320
M-203 between McLain State Park and Calumet: 372
M-149 between Elkhorn and Palms Book State Park: 450
M-73 (entire length): 464
M-183 between Fayette and Garden: 526
M-64 between White Pine and Silver City: 529
M-64 south of Marenisco: 543
M-138 between Akron/Thomas Rds and Akron: 550
M-157 (entire length): 550
M-48 between Goetzville and Stalwart: 579
M-48 between M-129 and Mackinac Trail south of Rudyard: 585
M-134 on Drummond Island: 587
M-149 between US-2 and Elkhorn: 603
M-138 in Fairgrove: 639
M-94 between Sawyer Airport and US-41: 649
M-35 between Gwinn and Palmer: 650
M-69 between Foster City and Perronville: 686
M-64 between Silver City and the Cranberry River: 693
M-48 between Caribou Lake Rd and Goetzville: 706
M-48 between Stalwart and M-129: 707
M-38 between M-26 and Nisula: 708
M-61 between M-115 and M-66: 710
M-94 between Hiawatha and M-28: 760
M-138 between Fairgrove and Akron/Thomas Rds: 766
M-134 between Prentiss Bay and M-48: 783
M-18 between Roscommon and M-72: 784
US-45 between Rockland and Ontonagon: 789
M-77 north of M-28: 804
M-188 in Eaton Rapids: 818
BUS US-131 on the south side of Constantine: 822
M-64 between Bergland and White Pine: 825
M-94 between Manistique and Hiawatha: 839
US-23 between Ocqueoc Rd and Cheboygan: 846
M-36 between M-52 and Gregory: 859 (M-36's AADT rapidly jumps heading east, getting above 15,000 10-15 miles later)
M-142 between M-25 and Pigeon: 888
M-183 between US-2 and Garden: 889
US-23 between Hoeft State Park and Ocqueoc Rd: 932
M-25 in Port Hope: 932
M-134 between Cedarville and Prentiss Bay: 941
M-18 between Meredith and M-55: 946
M-183 in Garden: 955
M-138 between Akron and M-24: 959
M-203 between Hancock and McLain State Park: 965
M-25 between Port Austin and Port Hope: 975
M-26 between US-41 and Silver River Falls: 975
M-49 south of Camden: 994
M-72 between M-65 and Barton City: 997
M-199 between Michigan Ave and I-94: 998

[webny99]

Not basing this on traffic counts, just vibes and personal experience: NY 14 north of Lyons. The way it jogs east in Lyons and then turns east again north of town makes it feel like the "back way" out of Lyons, and that combined with light traffic, narrow shoulders, and bumpy pavement makes it feel really remote and almost a little spooky.

Meanwhile, parallel CR 242 (Maple Street Rd) traverses the west side of the ridge and provides a smoother and more scenic route to NY 104 and points north/west (and hence, it's also noticeably busier in my experience but just "normal" busy, not eerily empty like NY 14). This route is also surprisingly a mile shorter between Lyons and Sodus Point, plus it avoids Alton, so I'd say it's pretty easily the preferred N/S route all things considered.

[Quillz]

I was going to mention CA-266, but Max already did. Has a single connection to the rest of the state (and prior to 1986, was even shorter than it is now), and itself is a pretty thinly traveled route that is mainly used as alternate access to and from US-95 or US-6.

However, another possible candidate would be the southern section of CA-169. It was originally intended to reach US-101, but a gap remains to this day. As a result, this portion exists only to provide access to some small native communities. It does provide access to the Redwood Curtain via Bald Hills Road, but that's a twisty dirt road that I only did once in my Jeep Wrangler and even then, I felt kind of uneasy doing it. Otherwise, its only proper access to the rest of the state is CA-96.

[Quillz]

CA 266 is probably the grand champion in California.  AZ 288, AZ 366, AZ 261, AZ 273, AZ 373, and AZ 473 all come to mind in Arizona as being decidedly off grid.

I'd take a calculated guess that the northern section of CA 169 might come close in that regard; it's barely more than a local street serving a line of houses along the lower Klamath River.  The southern section actually serves as access to the Hoopa Native American reservation, so it sees pretty regular usage. 

Ah, the exact opposite of what I just said! But you make a good point, the northern half is really just a local street these days. I guess we could meet in the middle and say CA-169 as a whole doesn't get a lot of traffic, given its location.

On a similar note, you could also bring up CA-200. It's just three miles and is just an alternate connection between US-101 and CA-299. (Historically, this was once part of US-299). I don't know the traffic counts off hand but there is almost zero reason to take this as it's less than a mile north of the freeway alignment of CA-299. Even McKinleyville on the west end doesn't require using this route.

[Quillz]

That way is so back country you can still find NV 8A shields in the wild. 

Indeed, there was one visible from the end of CA 299's pavement, when I was out there in 2017.

I was there in 2020, and didn't recall seeing any 8A shields. So I think it finally got removed, unless it was farther back than what you described. (I took my photo right on the border line).

[TheCatalyst31]

WI 122 is probably the winner for Wisconsin. It has an AADT of 60 near its south end at WI 77, and the rest of the route isn't a whole lot busier, plus it ends at the Michigan state line and isn't a state highway on the other side. Wisconsin has a GIS app for AADT that also includes county highways, so it takes some guesswork to find the lowest traffic counts, but here are some other ones I found:

WI 107 between CTH J and CTH S in Lincoln County - 90
WI 55 between Argonne and WI 70 - 120
WI 88 between CTH E and CTH T in Buffalo County - 170
WI 130 between CTH N and WI 154 - 180
WI 131 between WI 60 and Steuben - 180
WI 169 between Copper Falls State Park and the Ashland County line - 180
WI 52 between WI 55 and CTH A - 220
WI 102 between CTH YY and WI 86 - 220
WI 121 between CTH Q and the Buffalo County line - 220
WI 86 between CTH D and the Price county line - 300
WI 78 between Wiota and CTH M - 320
WI 80 between CTH P and WI 133 - 320
WI 127 between CTH O and CTH XX in Columbia County - 320
WI 171 between WI 35 and WI 27 - 340
WI 40 between WI 48 and the Sawyer county line - 400
WI 133 between Cassville and CTH V - 400

[Katavia]

North Carolina: Likely NC 90 to Edgemont, which is unpaved with a 2016 AADT of 100.

US 19W (paved) at the NC-TN state line supposedly had 70 AADT in 2022...

[doorknob60]

ODOT says the AADT of OR-27 (the segment north of US-20) is 16. I believe it, it's an unpaved road that kind of winds around Prineville Reservoir. There's a well used paved and much straighter county route 6 miles to the west which is much more suitable for thru traffic, making OR-27 functionally obsolete. Though it remains on the state highway system.

[epzik8]

My nominee for Maryland is most of 335, which goes through western Dorchester's swamps.

[CovalenceSTU]

For Oregon, it would be Cornucopia Highway No. 413 (no shield) from Carson to Cornucopia at 12 AADT, and OR-27 from US-20 to MP24 at 16 AADT.

Others under 50: OR-74 around Little Butter Creek Rd, with 26 AADT (under 200 for the majority of the route, excluding Heppner) and OR-46 to Oregon Caves National Monument, with 46 AADT (down from 100/day a few years back, never realized it was unpopular).

Lowest over the whole route: OR-216 with 65-249 AADT (a small connector road between US-97 and US-197) or nearby OR-207 at 85-218 AADT.

And in my area, there's OR-202 (past Youngs River Rd) and OR-103, both in the hundreds. Pretty useful if you're heading to 26 while avoiding a delay on 101 (or going to Jewell, but there's virtually nothing besides a school and preserve).

[SEWIGuy]

WI 122 is probably the winner for Wisconsin. It has an AADT of 60 near its south end at WI 77, and the rest of the route isn't a whole lot busier, plus it ends at the Michigan state line and isn't a state highway on the other side. Wisconsin has a GIS app for AADT that also includes county highways, so it takes some guesswork to find the lowest traffic counts, but here are some other ones I found:

WI 107 between CTH J and CTH S in Lincoln County - 90
WI 55 between Argonne and WI 70 - 120

I drove that roughly 20 mile stretch of WI-55 about a decade ago on a beautiful Fall weekday, and I don't think I saw more than five other cars. When I saw this thread title, this was the first Wisconsin highway than came to mind.

I don't believe I have ever been on WI-122, but that part of WI-107 is no more than a glorified local road.  At least WI-55 looks and feels like a full-fledged state highway.

[MATraveler128]

For Massachusetts there are several that might qualify mainly in the western half of the state but I'm going to say MA 71 in Great Barrington.

[mgk920]

WI 122 is probably the winner for Wisconsin. It has an AADT of 60 near its south end at WI 77, and the rest of the route isn't a whole lot busier, plus it ends at the Michigan state line and isn't a state highway on the other side. Wisconsin has a GIS app for AADT that also includes county highways, so it takes some guesswork to find the lowest traffic counts, but here are some other ones I found:

WI 107 between CTH J and CTH S in Lincoln County - 90
WI 55 between Argonne and WI 70 - 120

I drove that roughly 20 mile stretch of WI-55 about a decade ago on a beautiful Fall weekday, and I don't think I saw more than five other cars. When I saw this thread title, this was the first Wisconsin highway than came to mind.

I don't believe I have ever been on WI-122, but that part of WI-107 is no more than a glorified local road.  At least WI-55 looks and feels like a full-fledged state highway.

A LOT of those remote, low traffic state (and county) highways in the Wisconsin northwoods are amazing, high quality 'alone time' drives.



Mike

[Flint1979]

M-48 for Michigan. I spend a lot of time in that part of the U.P. and was traveling on it one day near Goetzville coming from the southern terminus at M-134 I had traveled that distance and not seen another car the entire time. I thought to myself it's been awhile since I saw a car, then I got into Goetzville a really small town in the U.P. and stopped at Yooperman's which is a bar. When I got in there I thought I'm going to look up what the least traveled highway in Michigan is because I think I might be on it right now. Sure enough I looked it up and it was M-48.

According to another list the loneliest road in Michigan is US-45.

[pderocco]

That way is so back country you can still find NV 8A shields in the wild. 

Indeed, there was one visible from the end of CA 299's pavement, when I was out there in 2017.

I was there in 2020, and didn't recall seeing any 8A shields. So I think it finally got removed, unless it was farther back than what you described. (I took my photo right on the border line).

I was there in 2015, and didn't see any 8A, but I didn't go more than a few yards over the line, so I could have missed it if it was a hundred yards down the road.

It wouldn't surprise me if the AADT of 70 is typically 35 people driving to the end and back, just to say they've driven to the end of 299.

[MikieTimT]

Arkansas Highway 327 comes to mind for me, along with Arkansas Highway 219 west of Ozark (not the one that connects to I-40), as well as Arkansas Highway 370.

Franklin County, where Ozark sits, has several state highways that tail off from paved to dirt roads where the state just has the county maintain the remnants of the routes.  AADTs are all below 200.  AR-215 in its various segments is one in particular.

The road in Arkansas most likely to qualify for the spirit of this thread though is AR-220 along Lee Creek between Devil's Den State Park and the Old 12 Cross Roads.  AADT is 50.  It was a dirt highway until the 2010's, when they finally blacktopped it.  Took all of less than a year before one of the lanes closed due to a landslide onto the westbound lane, and all they did was put up a long term set of portable traffic signals at each end of the slide for the longest time until they got around to stabilizing the road in several places that slid.  Now it has the full 2 lanes restored with riprap on hillsides and patched asphalt, but still only 50 cars a day.  Pretty drive, but convenient to nothing unless you want to ride ATVs in the Ozark National Forest.  I think I've driven it more when it was a dirt road than when blacktopped.  You needed a truck back then, though, as there were numerous big rocks protruding through the "roadbed" that would have torn up the underside of a low slung car.

[webny99]

The road in Arkansas most likely to qualify for the spirit of this thread though is AR-220 along Lee Creek between Devil's Den State Park and the Old 12 Cross Roads.  AADT is 50.  It was a dirt highway until the 2010's, when they finally blacktopped it.  Took all of less than a year before one of the lanes closed due to a landslide onto the westbound lane, and all they did was put up a long term set of portable traffic signals at each end of the slide for the longest time until they got around to stabilizing the road in several places that slid.  Now it has the full 2 lanes restored with riprap on hillsides and patched asphalt, but still only 50 cars a day.  Pretty drive, but convenient to nothing unless you want to ride ATVs in the Ozark National Forest.  I think I've driven it more when it was a dirt road than when blacktopped.  You needed a truck back then, though, as there were numerous big rocks protruding through the "roadbed" that would have torn up the underside of a low slung car.

If I am looking at the right road, wouldn't it be a main route to Devil's Den State Park from points south, or would most traffic use I-49 to AR 74? An AADT of 50 seems really low for what is ultimately a through route between Cedarville and I-49.

[MikieTimT]

The road in Arkansas most likely to qualify for the spirit of this thread though is AR-220 along Lee Creek between Devil's Den State Park and the Old 12 Cross Roads.  AADT is 50.  It was a dirt highway until the 2010's, when they finally blacktopped it.  Took all of less than a year before one of the lanes closed due to a landslide onto the westbound lane, and all they did was put up a long term set of portable traffic signals at each end of the slide for the longest time until they got around to stabilizing the road in several places that slid.  Now it has the full 2 lanes restored with riprap on hillsides and patched asphalt, but still only 50 cars a day.  Pretty drive, but convenient to nothing unless you want to ride ATVs in the Ozark National Forest.  I think I've driven it more when it was a dirt road than when blacktopped.  You needed a truck back then, though, as there were numerous big rocks protruding through the "roadbed" that would have torn up the underside of a low slung car.

If I am looking at the right road, wouldn't it be a main route to Devil's Den State Park from points south, or would most traffic use I-49 to AR 74? An AADT of 50 seems really low for what is ultimately a through route between Cedarville and I-49.

I can't recall a time I drove it that I actually met oncoming traffic except near the endpoints.  If you look at a topographic map, you'll see what kind of terrain the road cuts through.  It is technically a through route, but Cedarville isn't exactly a destination point, and as crazy as it seems, it's actually quicker by 5 minutes to take AR-162, which itself ceases to be state maintained and becomes a county road over to Rudy and get on I-49 there.  The state highways coming out of Devil's Den State Park are as curvy and hilly as those over to Cedarville, so as direct as it looks on a map, it's still longer in time unless you're driving a sports car and going Dukes of Hazzard through the mountains.  Not that I've ever done that...

[mgk920]

M-48 for Michigan. I spend a lot of time in that part of the U.P. and was traveling on it one day near Goetzville coming from the southern terminus at M-134 I had traveled that distance and not seen another car the entire time. I thought to myself it's been awhile since I saw a car, then I got into Goetzville a really small town in the U.P. and stopped at Yooperman's which is a bar. When I got in there I thought I'm going to look up what the least traveled highway in Michigan is because I think I might be on it right now. Sure enough I looked it up and it was M-48.

According to another list the loneliest road in Michigan is US-45.

Also, Ontonagon is definitely a 'ghost town' in training.   

Mike

[SEWIGuy]

M-48 for Michigan. I spend a lot of time in that part of the U.P. and was traveling on it one day near Goetzville coming from the southern terminus at M-134 I had traveled that distance and not seen another car the entire time. I thought to myself it's been awhile since I saw a car, then I got into Goetzville a really small town in the U.P. and stopped at Yooperman's which is a bar. When I got in there I thought I'm going to look up what the least traveled highway in Michigan is because I think I might be on it right now. Sure enough I looked it up and it was M-48.

According to another list the loneliest road in Michigan is US-45.

Also, Ontonagon is definitely a 'ghost town' in training.   

So, just like most of the UP then.

[webny99]

The road in Arkansas most likely to qualify for the spirit of this thread though is AR-220 along Lee Creek between Devil's Den State Park and the Old 12 Cross Roads.  AADT is 50.  It was a dirt highway until the 2010's, when they finally blacktopped it.  Took all of less than a year before one of the lanes closed due to a landslide onto the westbound lane, and all they did was put up a long term set of portable traffic signals at each end of the slide for the longest time until they got around to stabilizing the road in several places that slid.  Now it has the full 2 lanes restored with riprap on hillsides and patched asphalt, but still only 50 cars a day.  Pretty drive, but convenient to nothing unless you want to ride ATVs in the Ozark National Forest.  I think I've driven it more when it was a dirt road than when blacktopped.  You needed a truck back then, though, as there were numerous big rocks protruding through the "roadbed" that would have torn up the underside of a low slung car.

If I am looking at the right road, wouldn't it be a main route to Devil's Den State Park from points south, or would most traffic use I-49 to AR 74? An AADT of 50 seems really low for what is ultimately a through route between Cedarville and I-49.

I can't recall a time I drove it that I actually met oncoming traffic except near the endpoints.  If you look at a topographic map, you'll see what kind of terrain the road cuts through.  It is technically a through route, but Cedarville isn't exactly a destination point, and as crazy as it seems, it's actually quicker by 5 minutes to take AR-162, which itself ceases to be state maintained and becomes a county road over to Rudy and get on I-49 there.  The state highways coming out of Devil's Den State Park are as curvy and hilly as those over to Cedarville, so as direct as it looks on a map, it's still longer in time unless you're driving a sports car and going Dukes of Hazzard through the mountains.  Not that I've ever done that...

That all makes sense. I am certainly not disputing that it is very lightly traveled, but I wouldn't be surprised if the AADT has increased a bit now that it is a paved route either. The lack of connectivity to I-49 in that area is striking.

[pianocello]

For Illinois, it looks like the west end of IL 155 is the lowest, at 200 ADT. So remote, in fact, that I didn't even know that route existed.

Second place, which I was about to type in here before I decided it would be wise to double check, is the east end of IL 14. It leads to an abandoned bridge over the Wabash River, but it still manages to get 400 ADT. I guess there's a small number of farms, and maybe oil fields, in that area.

[JREwing78]

The lowest I can find in MI (below 1,000):
M-64 along Lake Gogebic: 282 (Gogebic County) and 333 (Ontonagon County)
...

MDOT shows an AADT of 1 for M-185. Obviously this is because M-185 is the main route around Mackinac Island, which is famous for not having cars (aside from certain law enforcement, emergency, and maintenance personnel). I highly doubt that pedestrians are being counted here.

[paulthemapguy]

Second place, which I was about to type in here before I decided it would be wise to double check, is the east end of IL 14. It leads to an abandoned bridge over the Wabash River, but it still manages to get 400 ADT. I guess there's a small number of farms, and maybe oil fields, in that area.

The counter was probably placed pretty close to Illinois 1 because staff didn't feel like driving all the way out to the former bridge and back.