Which Highways in Your State are Most/Likely to be Clinched by Travelers

[webny99]

Why? The segment in Lansing is part of I-69 why would you only think of Detroit-Grand Rapids traffic? I'm talking about through traffic from Canada to points south and west of Michigan and vice versa.

If I'm understanding correctly it's because traffic using I-96 from Detroit/Lansing to Grand Rapids uses a piece of I-69 without clinching it. This reduces the clinch rate of I-69.

There's also quite a bit of traffic from Chicagoland and points west that would use I-94 to I-69, missing the southern section of I-69 in Michigan. This also reduces the clinch rate of I-69.

[therocket]

CA:

Most likely: Probably some urban freeway like I-805, I-605, I-710, or I-215

Least likely: Not counting CA-39 and CA-173, which are pretty much impossible to clinch unless you dedicate large amounts of time to hiking for the specific purpose of clinching the route, probably the long cross-state highways like CA-58, CA-299, and CA-78 and the extremely long routes like CA-1, US-101, I-5, and CA-99.

[plain]

For VA, I agree with the others in saying I-85 for most likely. Even though there are people that exit at US 58 upon leaving NC, it doesn't change my opinion.



Least likely would probably be:

VA 42 - because it's in sections, and it parallels I-81 and US 11 anyway

VA 156 - because its routing is just odd, to say the least

VA 165 - same reason as VA 156

[US 89]

Here is my contribution from Utah:

Most likely

Interstate: I-80. Gave some thought to I-84, but a lot of the traffic coming in from Idaho is likely going to stay on 15 and head down to Salt Lake.

US highway: US 163. There are exactly two small settlements on this route and neither of them have any significant road connections anywhere else. Yes, this is the shortest route that meets the 20-mile threshold, but everything else either has substantial cities along it, major route splits in the middle, or would never be clinched unless you were really trying to (looking at you, 89).

State highway: SR 257, which has just about nothing on it between the endpoints at Hinckley and Milford. There are plenty of other long, remote routes but all generally have some sort of route split or point of interest along the way that people might stop and turn around at.

Least likely

Interstate: I-215. Nobody is going to drive a 3/4 beltway in one go.

US highway: US 6, which is the third-longest US highway in the state, but Utah's US highways generally follow pretty sensible routings. Nobody is going to follow 6 all the way across the state given that US 50 has the exact same endpoints and follows a shorter, more direct route with more freeway.

State highway: leaving aside routes for parking lots and driver's test courses, probably SR 129, which is basically an east-west road stitched to a north-south road in Utah County. From the south end to its US 89 junction in American Fork, it would be substantially more direct to just use 89. SR 113 would also be a contender, but it makes for a good bypass of southern Heber City if US 40 or 189 were ever to close.

[Bitmapped]

Sorry, that would be misinformation that I originally posted.  US-35 officially ends at I-64 and the remainder down to Teays Valley Road is (unposted) Spur US-35.

The mile markers seem to indicate otherwise.

On the other hand, since the flyover from US-35 to eastbound I-64 leaves the route before the official endpoint, that would still result in a stub that Clinch purists would consider to not be clinched.  (Assuming that the signage posted above is not considered an "official" exemption). 

I think most people recognize "one point per interchange" with respect to counting clinches, although there are exceptions.

WVDOT GIS at https://gis.transportation.wv.gov/measures2.0/ does show US 35 starting at the where the ramp from I-64 EB intersects the 4-lane highway. The part from there south is listed as US 35 Spur. I'm pretty sure that when the route first opened that US 35 mainline was set to start at Teays Valley Road, but I do see Spur 35 was shown by the 2014 Putnam County map.

With that in mind, I would figure that if you hit the ramps at the interchange, you've clinched US 35 so I guess that would make it the highest for US routes in WV.

WV 44 has the same sort of thing happening with what I think US 35 originally had. WV 44 extends just south south of the King Coal Highway mainline to Bens Creek Road, a county route, instead of ending at now/future US 52.

[TheCatalyst31]

Wisconsin

Interstate most likely
I-90; long distance traffic

US route most likely
US-2; US-141 would be the clear winner if not for its irrelevant southern terminus.

State route most likely
WI-173; shortcut road

Interstate least likely
I-94; the Milwaukee diversion both renders it irrelevant as a long distance route and adds tons of local traffic to the road, bringing down the percentage of clinchers

US route least likely
US-151; no reason you would ever clinch it unless you were actively trying to. Even US-12, 14, and 18 could happen accidentally due to Interstate closures/backups.

State route least likely
Tons of candidates but I'd go with WI-73.

Not sure I agree with US 151 as the least likely. If you're from Manitowoc and want to visit Iowa (or vice versa), and decide to take the scenic route to see a little of Madison along the way, you've clinched it in one shot. It won't happen often, especially since the routing through Madison is weird, but it seems more likely than bypassing all of I-94 north of Madison for US 12 on a trip from Minnesota to or from the bit of northeast Illinois that's closer to US 12 than I-90, I-94, or even US 14.

[JayhawkCO]

Wisconsin

Interstate most likely
I-90; long distance traffic

US route most likely
US-2; US-141 would be the clear winner if not for its irrelevant southern terminus.

State route most likely
WI-173; shortcut road

Interstate least likely
I-94; the Milwaukee diversion both renders it irrelevant as a long distance route and adds tons of local traffic to the road, bringing down the percentage of clinchers

US route least likely
US-151; no reason you would ever clinch it unless you were actively trying to. Even US-12, 14, and 18 could happen accidentally due to Interstate closures/backups.

State route least likely
Tons of candidates but I'd go with WI-73.

Not sure I agree with US 151 as the least likely. If you're from Manitowoc and want to visit Iowa (or vice versa), and decide to take the scenic route to see a little of Madison along the way, you've clinched it in one shot. It won't happen often, especially since the routing through Madison is weird, but it seems more likely than bypassing all of I-94 north of Madison for US 12 on a trip from Minnesota to or from the bit of northeast Illinois that's closer to US 12 than I-90, I-94, or even US 14.

But what's dramatically more likely? That someone takes US151 when in Madison? Or that someone from Manitowoc wants to take the scenic route to Iowa?

[Big John]

^^And with the recent US 45 realignment in the Fond du Lac/Oshkosh area, who would follow that for route continutity?

[TheCatalyst31]

That's a good point - US 45 is less likely than either of those, especially given it has the concurrency with I-894.

[74/171FAN]

I was thinking about this thread yesterday when driving PA/NY 14 from US 15 at Trout Run (north of Williamsport) to Elmira.  My main question in regard to PA 14 applying to this thread is whether how many travelers take PA/NY 14 from Williamsport to Elmira (instead of US 15, I-99, and I-86) and the concurrencies PA 14 has with PA 414 in Canton and US 6 in Troy.

[keithvh]

For California, I like the I-205 suggestion and I think I-505 would fall under the same bucket. I think for an even longer route, I-40 should be under consideration. It's the only other interstate in CA that doesn't involve a major metro area where there will be a lot of local traffic. The only other traffic generator I can really think of is Needles and US-95, but I think that would be quite sparse compared with the long-haul traffic on I-40.

For state routes, similar to the Nevada answers, something like 177 or 371 that connects two larger routes with not much in between stands out. 154 as well - with GPS often sending through traffic that way, I could see more end-to-end 154 traffic than local traffic on that route. 167 and 182 just connect to Nevada, and I doubt there would be much, if any traffic traversing just part of it. Same for 270 to Bodie, and US-199 to Oregon (although 197 will take some away from that). There are also some shorter dead-end routes (207, 217, 282) and shorter connector routes (149, 183) that probably get a lot of full clinches are but are well under 20 miles.

Otherwise - there are a ton of routes that are really long and have sections that are well-travelled but also sections that are not - it would be pretty rare for someone to drive something like 4 or 46 or 152 all the way end-to-end, even though they are quite major routes. To say nothing of 1, 99, or US-101.

California doesn't have many US routes --- only 8 of them! (counting US-395 as 2 separate segments) --- but I'd think that a majority of drivers on US-6, US-97 and US-199 might be thru travelers.

US-6 only has 1 intersection (beyond it's end): CA-120.  Whatever Yosemite & Mammoth to Central Nevada traffic exists would take CA-120.  But who else?  People traveling from South Tahoe to Las Vegas, it's easiest to get to US-95 by traveling west up by Tahoe, as opposed to CA-120, right?  That's what Google Maps suggests.  Mammoth to Vegas traffic would take CA-166 and NV-262 instead of CA-120, US-6, I think.

US-97 would have some "within the city of Weed" traffic, but beyond that it's primarily a connector up to and down from Klamath Falls.  Unless Mount Shasta backpacking/outdoor traffic uses US-97 for a stretch before peeling off?

US-199 is of course the coast-to-inland connector through the Redwoods.  Only 1 intersection with a state route (CA-197) besides its end.  But I suppose there could be southern Oregon traffic that uses CA-197 as a cutoff to get to US-199 and the inland.  Curious what those numbers would be.

[citrus]

US-6 only has 1 intersection (beyond it's end): CA-120.  Whatever Yosemite & Mammoth to Central Nevada traffic exists would take CA-120.  But who else?  People traveling from South Tahoe to Las Vegas, it's easiest to get to US-95 by traveling west up by Tahoe, as opposed to CA-120, right?  That's what Google Maps suggests.  Mammoth to Vegas traffic would take CA-166 and NV-262 instead of CA-120, US-6, I think.

I was on a road trip driving back to the Bay Area from Panaca, NV and Cathedral Gorge, and that took me right along US-6 to CA-120! 

[keithvh]

I was on a road trip driving back to the Bay Area from Panaca, NV and Cathedral Gorge, and that took me right along US-6 to CA-120! 

Nice, we found somebody!  That's DEFINITELY a "use case" for using only California's portion of US-6 that's north of CA-120.

Bay Area/Stockton/Modesto to Tonopah/Ely/Pioche/Caliente/Cedar City, UT/Bryce Canyon.  A real adventurous sort could even take that route to get to Denver.

[tmthyvs]

British Columbia:

Most likely is probably BC 97-C. There's basically nothing to get off the road for, and it serves as the major freeway route between the lower mainland and the central Okanagan. Honorable mention to BC 37-A, but local traffic to Stewart might not hit the end of the highway.

Least likely I'm going to go with TCH-1. Given the massive quantities of local traffic in Victoria, Nanaimo, Greater Vancouver, and Kamloops, along with the fact that it isn't actually the direct route to anywhere (Victoria to Vancouver is shorter via BC-17; Vancouver to Kamloops you'd take BC-5). Honorable mentions here to BC 97 which is really more like 3 different highways strung together and TCH-16, which also has a ferry to Haida Gwaii, and a portion near Alberta that is part of the quickest route between Edmonton and Vancouver.

[bugo]

OK:
I-40
US 377
OK 364

[bugo]

My examples from Kansas:
US Highway: US73 (91.12 miles) - Not a lot of great options in KS to choose from over the 20 mile limit, but this is a fairly direct route if you're going from the western side of the KC metro to Lincoln.

I wouldn't go that way even if I were in western Wyandotte County. I would take 435 to 29 to 2 to 2. I wouldn't consider going any other way.

State Highway: K-10 (36.611 miles) - Depending on traffic, the quickest way from Topeka to the southern portion of the KC metro.

And it's toll-free.

US Highway: US159 (52.3 miles) - It's easier to have traveled this via the concurrency with US73 than it is to have taken its small independent section.

When I lived in Kansas City nearly 25 years ago, I got bored one night and drove the entire length of US 159, just to say that I did.

[bugo]

For Kentucky, the most likely would be either I-24 or I-71.

Now that you mention it, I have all of 71 in Kentucky, plus the Ohio stretch south of Columbus. I never thought of it.

[Kulerage]

I'll take a crack at North Carolina and say possibly I-95, as all our other major thru routes serve too many major population centers to be considered. I was going to do US and State highways too, but there's far too many small segments somewhere that are replaced by a far better route, excluding them as choices and I don't have the sanity to deal with this right now.