Towns You Don't (or Can't) Avoid

[webny99]

Opposite to the Towns You Avoid thread, what are some towns you actively choose to go through (maybe they have great roadgeekery, or maybe they're the lesser of two evils vs. going through a more annoying town)?

And, towns that you would avoid if you could, but there's no good alternative options?
Shamokin Dam, PA, is the classic example, but I'm sure there are many others.

[Flint1979]

I live in Saginaw Township. If I could avoid the city of Saginaw I would. I'm in Saginaw every day and that ends with a "y."

[Max Rockatansky]

Bakersfield is kind of impractical for me to avoid heading to the south unless I take a really weird southwest swing on CA 155 to CA 178. 

[ibthebigd]

Going North of San Diego it's hard to avoid Los Angeles.

Indianapolis to Milwaukee avoiding Chicago.

SM-G950U

[Big John]

Indianapolis to Milwaukee avoiding Chicago.

I-74 west to I-39 north to I-43 north

[Max Rockatansky]

Going North of San Diego it's hard to avoid Los Angeles.

Indianapolis to Milwaukee avoiding Chicago.

SM-G950U

As far as Fresno goes I've often found bypassing Los Angeles by way of CA 58, CA 14, CA 138, and I-15 is often faster than slogging through Los Angeles weekday traffic. 

[StogieGuy7]

Pretty tough to avoid Gary, IN and it's ugly NWI cousins if you are traveling eastbound from N. IL, WI, etc toward IN, OH, MI and beyond - thanks to Lake Michigan. That pinch point has much of America's east-west traffic crammed on to 2 freeways: I-90 and I-94 (each of which shares time with I-80).  And both are usually under construction!

If I could avoid that horrid traffic area in NW Indiana, I would but it's nary impossible to do.

[Roadgeekteen]

The part of I-93 between Manchester and Concord is almost impossible to avoid when traveling from Boston to much of New Hampshire and Vermont.

[Roadgeekteen]

The part of I-93 between Manchester and Concord is almost impossible to avoid when traveling from Boston to much of New Hampshire and Maine.

Why would you be taking I-93 if you're going to Maine?

Oops I meant Vermont.

[jmacswimmer]

Shamokin Dam, PA, is the classic example, but I'm sure there are many others.

This is the first one I thought of too...can't wait until the CSVT is complete!

Not necessarily a town, but if heading to Cape May or Wildwood from Maryland/Delaware via the DMB, there's not much you can do about NJ 47/347 in the area of Maurice River Township.  (At least once you reach the NJ 83 intersection, you start having options to cut over to US 9 or the GSP).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

If I could skip Beaver Bay and Silver Bay on MN 61, I would.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Due to several links I have it's nearly impossible for me to avoid Noain, Navarre, Spain (near Pamplona). However one time I had already hit it earlier on a trip and thus I managed to avoid it and clinch NA-150 (running parallel and to the North of A-21 freeway).

Most trips, however, don't go in that direction. Many involve taking A-23 to Zaragoza, and it has no reasonable alternates other than the old N-330 road. Although thanks to that coronavirus I've taken a break from it, today it has been the first time in 4 months I've gone in that direction.

[J N Winkler]

When I am going due south into Texas to places like Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, DFW is hard to avoid--it can be done, but tends to be more trouble than it is worth.

Similarly, a trip due east or northeast usually involves going through Kansas City.  Again, it can be avoided, but usually at some expense in added distance or hassle.

[Konza]

I don't particularly like driving through Oklahoma City.  The freeways are old, with old pavement and substandard geometry.

If I'm headed to the Midwest, I try to make Amarillo by evening.  Happy to head northeast from there to meet I-35 in Wichita instead of Oklahoma City.

[jakeroot]

Everyone else seems to be going on about cities they can't avoid. How about cities that you choose not to avoid?

Federal Way, WA has been a local leader in traffic control schemes, and I find myself detouring through it all the time just to see what they're doing.

Bellevue, WA has been doing a lot of construction work lately, so it's a cool city to go through when I'm in the area. Just to see what's going on.

[debragga]

Going west from Monroe, it's impossible to avoid West Monroe without taking a long detour, thanks to the Ouachita River bridges. The closest detour is 15 miles north in Sterlington. The same is true for avoiding Monroe going east from West Monroe.

[wanderer2575]

Thanks to Lake Erie, you don't avoid Sylvania or Toledo, Ohio if driving between Michigan's eastern Lower Peninsula (Thumb area down to the Ohio border) and points south or southeast.

[Roadgeekteen]

Thanks to Lake Erie, you don't avoid Sylvania or Toledo, Ohio if driving between Michigan's eastern Lower Peninsula (Thumb area down to the Ohio border) and points south or southeast.

You can go through Canada.

[Super Mateo]

Pretty tough to avoid Gary, IN and it's ugly NWI cousins if you are traveling eastbound from N. IL, WI, etc toward IN, OH, MI and beyond - thanks to Lake Michigan. That pinch point has much of America's east-west traffic crammed on to 2 freeways: I-90 and I-94 (each of which shares time with I-80).  And both are usually under construction!

If I could avoid that horrid traffic area in NW Indiana, I would but it's nary impossible to do.

And I-90, with its huge toll on the Skyway, adds even more vehicles onto I-80/94.  It's like driving in a video game.  It's merely just bad on weekends; weekdays I-80/94 is efficient at raising my blood pressure.  I'm better off on the slower US 30.

Anyway, I drove from Illinois to a town a bit east of Harrisburg, PA twice.  Both times through Pittsburgh eastbound (the second being straight down I-76), I made it a point to go through the Fort Pitt Tunnel to see the "entrance" to Pittsburgh.  One day, one night, both were well worth the detour.  I also got to watch my only MLB game outside of Chicago there.

[webny99]

Everyone else seems to be going on about cities they can't avoid. How about cities that you choose not to avoid?

Most of the time, going right through the heart of a city - or taking a city street when there's a freeway - is an inconvenience and not worth the bother unless you've got time to spare. This is especially true on trips, but less so for local travel.

But Harrisburg, PA is one exception to that rule: when traveling north/south through the metro (between I-83 and the US 22/322 freeway), it's actually more convenient (6 miles shorter, and usually faster) to use Cameron St. instead of the circular freeway routing, as shown here. Can't think of too many other places where that's the case. Granted, if it was any other state besides PA, the freeways and interchanges would be better-designed and higher-quality, to the point where it would be worth staying on the freeway... the current single lane for I-83 through traffic is hardly better than a surface street anyways, so why not save 6 miles!?

[webny99]

Thanks to Lake Erie, you don't avoid Sylvania or Toledo, Ohio if driving between Michigan's eastern Lower Peninsula (Thumb area down to the Ohio border) and points south or southeast.

You can go through Canada.

To go east, maybe. But not south or southeast.

Anyway, I drove from Illinois to a town a bit east of Harrisburg, PA twice.  Both times through Pittsburgh eastbound (the second being straight down I-76), I made it a point to go through the Fort Pitt Tunnel to see the "entrance" to Pittsburgh.  One day, one night, both were well worth the detour.

Pittsburgh is another good one! I'd definitely jump at the chance to see the city and downtown bridges/tunnels.

[Flint1979]

Thanks to Lake Erie, you don't avoid Sylvania or Toledo, Ohio if driving between Michigan's eastern Lower Peninsula (Thumb area down to the Ohio border) and points south or southeast.

You can go through Canada.

I don't know why anyone would want to really. Dealing with customs especially coming back into the U.S. is a challenge that I'd rather not deal with.

[zzcarp]

Thanks to Lake Erie, you don't avoid Sylvania or Toledo, Ohio if driving between Michigan's eastern Lower Peninsula (Thumb area down to the Ohio border) and points south or southeast.

You can go through Canada.

I don't know why anyone would want to really. Dealing with customs especially coming back into the U.S. is a challenge that I'd rather not deal with.

At one point there was no issue at customs either way, just a wave through. It all changed after 9/11. And, due to the response to COVID, the border's been closed since March and likely will be extended at least to August 21.

[Flint1979]

Thanks to Lake Erie, you don't avoid Sylvania or Toledo, Ohio if driving between Michigan's eastern Lower Peninsula (Thumb area down to the Ohio border) and points south or southeast.

You can go through Canada.

I don't know why anyone would want to really. Dealing with customs especially coming back into the U.S. is a challenge that I'd rather not deal with.

At one point there was no issue at customs either way, just a wave through. It all changed after 9/11. And, due to the response to COVID, the border's been closed since March and likely will be extended at least to August 21.

Honestly I have only been to Canada once since 9/11 and it's mostly because of the fact that I don't want to deal with customs. I haven't been near the border in quite awhile to know how it is near there on either the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit-Windsor Tunnel or Bluewater Bridge. It's two more hours to take the south side of Lake Erie rather than going through Canada to get to Boston from where I live but honestly I think I might be held up at the border for two hours so that two hours wasn't really saved. It's about 130 more miles not an outstanding length really.

[Brandon]

Pretty tough to avoid Gary, IN and it's ugly NWI cousins if you are traveling eastbound from N. IL, WI, etc toward IN, OH, MI and beyond - thanks to Lake Michigan. That pinch point has much of America's east-west traffic crammed on to 2 freeways: I-90 and I-94 (each of which shares time with I-80).  And both are usually under construction!

If I could avoid that horrid traffic area in NW Indiana, I would but it's nary impossible to do.

And I-90, with its huge toll on the Skyway, adds even more vehicles onto I-80/94.  It's like driving in a video game.  It's merely just bad on weekends; weekdays I-80/94 is efficient at raising my blood pressure.  I'm better off on the slower US 30.

The Borman can be its own special kind of hell.  Where else can you have to dodge wall-to-wall semis, FIBs, Cheseheads hogging the left lane at low speeds, and all other manner of assholes from across the country just because they have to be on I-80/94 to get somewhere else?  I've come across traffic jams (thankfully in the opposite direction) at 3 am there!