Loneliest Highway In Your State.

[txstateends]

For Texas primary routes, I'd guess SH 54 between US 62/180 south of Pine Springs and Van Horn. Roughly 50 miles and I don't even remember anything coming off of it that was identifiable as a road that led to human habitation. There is absolutely nothing out there.

Maybes/honorable mentions:
* TX 87, the Newton Co. portion north of Orange (zzzzzz!)
* TX 302, only numbered road of any consequence in all of Loving Co. (the US' 2nd least populous county)
* Several FMs/RMs around the state, especially more rural portions

[texaskdog]

For Texas primary routes, I'd guess SH 54 between US 62/180 south of Pine Springs and Van Horn. Roughly 50 miles and I don't even remember anything coming off of it that was identifiable as a road that led to human habitation. There is absolutely nothing out there.

I drove it in 2002 and passed 6 cars.  3 of them were within a few miles of Van Horn.

[texaskdog]

https://www.statesman.com/news/local/have-you-ever-driven-texas-loneliest-road/AhdydeGRm4kK1M119u2feP/

[Rothman]

NY would be NY 421. Hands down. If you want a through road, NY 3 between Carthage and Tupper Lake.

NY 22 north of Millerton is another contender. Outside of Plattsburgh, there's little development.

I was waiting for vdeane to come in here with an AADT analysis.

[hubcity]

For NJ, I'd bet on the more southern reaches of NJ 55 (excluding summer weekends, of course.) Maybe NJ 94 through the Skylands?

[vdeane]

NY would be NY 421. Hands down. If you want a through road, NY 3 between Carthage and Tupper Lake.

NY 22 north of Millerton is another contender. Outside of Plattsburgh, there's little development.

I was waiting for vdeane to come in here with an AADT analysis.

I wasn't going to, though you got me curious to look at this in GIS.  I would have assumed that NY 421 is the lowest, but amazingly, it doesn't appear to be!  The following is where RIS reports an actual AADT below 250 on a signed state highway:
-NY 30 north of NY 206 (233)
-US 9 south of I-87 at exit 30 (228)
-NY 168 between NY 167 and NY 80 (208-220)
-NY 171 south of Frankfort (206)
-NY 170 between NY 170A and NY 29 (190)
-NY 276 between the Canadian border and Rouses Point (161)
-NY 272 north of the Lake Ontario State Parkway (160)
-NY 189 (157)
-NY 421 (132)
-NY 344 east of Copake Falls (87)

[cl94]

The question with 421 is "where is the count station?" My guess is that it is just off of NY 30. I'd be willing to bet that at least 90% of traffic doesn't go past Warren Point.

[vdeane]

I do not know where it was placed in 2015, but in 2009, it was indeed placed near NY 30.  NY 344 was placed 50 yards from the state border.

[cl94]

I do not know where it was placed in 2015, but in 2009, it was indeed placed near NY 30.  NY 344 was placed 50 yards from the state border.

Which is half a mile east of the main locations the route serves. Interesting.

[Mapmikey]

If one were talking partial portions of a primary route, Virginia's would almost certainly be the unpaved part of VA 91 (about 6 miles) which has a 2017 AADT of 45.

[index]

NC 197's unpaved portion has an AADT of 260, and NC 90's unpaved portion doesn't even have an AADT on the interactive tool on the NCDOT website, so I'm going to assume that one's low too. One segment of NC 33 in Beaufort County has an AADT of 210.

[NWI_Irish96]

Although I am sure that there are some highways in Southeast Indiana that might go down tho this level, I nominate IN-166 in Perry County (dead ends at the Ohio River serving a very small burg) and IN-154 in Sullivan County, which serves Graysville, IN (dead ends at the Wabash River and serves a burg that barely exists).

SR 154 actually crosses the Wabash River and serves as the only crossing over the river between Terre Haute and Vincennes. And using local roads you can connect to Illinois Route 1 pretty easily.

Considering SR 166 it was interesting looking at the traffic counts on INDOT's website. Interestingly SR 66 east of SR 166 has even less traffic on it despite being the "thru" route. That whole stretch of 66 from Tell City to I-64 is quite winding and low in traffic. Great for motorcyclists I suppose.

Another contender for loneliest highway, SR 71 in far western Indiana, especially the norther segment from SR 26 north to US 24 in Benton County. That road looks dead quiet and the traffic counts never peak 300 vehicles a day on that stretch. The windmills might be the only thing interesting along that highway and you could travel on US 41 to get that view.

I've driven those sections of 66 and 166.  Very scenic drive.  I've never driven 71.  Not entirely sure why it's even a state highway. 

[wxfree]

For Texas primary routes, I'd guess SH 54 between US 62/180 south of Pine Springs and Van Horn. Roughly 50 miles and I don't even remember anything coming off of it that was identifiable as a road that led to human habitation. There is absolutely nothing out there.

I would agree with this, in part.  For the loneliest primary route, I'd nominate SH 166, which is a scenic loop through the Davis Mountains, and was initially proposed as a state park highway before land was acquired for a proper state park.  It has an intersection with an RM road between its two ends, but goes entirely through open ranch country.  For the loneliest direct through route, I'd nominate SH 54.  It starts in a town on one end but intersects only gravel roads that either dead end or loop back to the highway.  That it runs next to the Devil's Mountains adds to the ambience.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

MN 1 between Thief River Falls and the northern junction with MN 89.

That, or MN-65 between MN-1 and Littlefork. Hard to say which is lonelier.

I wonder too about a road like MN 286, a short connector in Itasca County between MN 6 and MN 38.

[MNHighwayMan]

MN 1 between Thief River Falls and the northern junction with MN 89.

That, or MN-65 between MN-1 and Littlefork. Hard to say which is lonelier.

I wonder too about a road like MN 286, a short connector in Itasca County between MN 6 and MN 38.

Eh, MN-6 and 38 are fairly decently traveled, and while there aren't any incorporated cities on MN-286, there is a small unincorporated community at each end (Talmoon and Marcell).

[ThatRandomOshawott]

The Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway. Very few cars and only a handful of exits with any services.

[Beeper1]

US-3 in far northern NH, especially between NH-26 and the Canadian border.

[texaskdog]

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/03/americas-loneliest-roads-are-gems-hidden-in-plain-sight/555779/

[Rothman]

US-3 in far northern NH, especially between NH-26 and the Canadian border.

It is beautiful up there.  Not many people visit the headwaters of the Connecticut River?

[Rothman]

I do not know where it was placed in 2015, but in 2009, it was indeed placed near NY 30.  NY 344 was placed 50 yards from the state border.

Which is half a mile east of the main locations the route serves. Interesting.

I would have thought Bash-Bish Falls would have driven traffic higher on the route.

[webny99]

"Low volume" does not exactly translate to "lonely". They're related, but not interchangeable by any means.

[Flint1979]

US-3 in far northern NH, especially between NH-26 and the Canadian border.

It is beautiful up there.  Not many people visit the headwaters of the Connecticut River?

It might be beautiful but it's very lonely. There's not even 1,000 people living in the northern 300 square miles of Coos County. US-3 is however probably the most well known highway in the state of New Hampshire due to it running the length of the state and goes through Concord, Manchester and Nashua.

[DandyDan]

MN 1 between Thief River Falls and the northern junction with MN 89.

That, or MN-65 between MN-1 and Littlefork. Hard to say which is lonelier.

For Iowa, I imagine it's some section of either IA-3 or IA-9 in northwest Iowa. That area's pretty damn boring and repetitive.

I would have to give some consideration to IA 10. I don't know where one would go on that route unless you know someone in a town on that route. I could go along with IA 3 on the basis that the leaving town sign going west on IA 3 from Waverly has Cherokee on the bottom line. I would also consider IA 44 being that anyone who is doing any long distance driving is probably hopping on I-80.

[jemacedo9]

In PA (going from personal experience, not AADT, so these could be debated):

Interstate: I-86 in the far NW corner of the state
US:  US 6 in the northern tier, I'd say west of Wellsboro and east of Warren
PA:  PA 44 north of Jersey Shore and south of Coudersport is wonderfully lonely and scenic.  There are other routes I've been on that way that I'd say are equally lonely, but not quite as scenic; for example, PA 872, PA 146, PA 284, PA 154, PA 414, etc. I'm not familiar at all with roads in far SW PA, though.

[cl94]

I do not know where it was placed in 2015, but in 2009, it was indeed placed near NY 30.  NY 344 was placed 50 yards from the state border.

Which is half a mile east of the main locations the route serves. Interesting.

I would have thought Bash-Bish Falls would have driven traffic higher on the route.

The count point is beyond Bash Bish Falls. Main access point for the falls is half a mile west of the state border.