After becoming a roadgeek, I've taken to avoiding Interstates more in my travels as I often find backroads more interesting (especially if I've taken the Interstates before).
However, most non-Interstates aren't optimal for long-distance travel before, even if they do make a more direct connection (because of the speeds that can be achieved). Therefore, I'm wondering what the furthest apart places are where the fastest route does not mainly involve or use Interstates. Short sections of an Interstate are fine (Lafayette, IN to Toledo, OH would count for this, but no section of Interstate more significant than that).
Denver to Dallas is 800 miles to city centers, about 220 miles of it is interstate (mostly comprised of I-25 in Colorado).
Minot to Laredo has almost no interstate mileage along 1600 miles, but it feels like cheating since it's almost entirely US 83.
Is that what you're looking for?
Hammond, IN, to Henderson, KY: 272 miles, none on interstates
Merrillville, IN, to Wooster, OH: 309 miles, none on interstates
I'm going to guess some route along the longitude of Bismark ND between I-25 and I-35, where there's a lack of north-south interstates (if no interstates at all along the route are what you are asking). Las Vegas to Reno also comes to mind.
For an E/W, Greenbush, MI to just east of Wolf Point, MT is 1,242 miles and uses only 2 miles of I-35 in Duluth and I-75 for the Mackinac Bridge.
My immediate first thought was Sault Ste Marie to Superior, 412 miles, no Interstate. Then I thought to extend it a little to the southeast, to Detour Village, and it's 449 miles. You parallel a section if I-75 while driving on Mackinac Trail, but never get on the freeway. It could probably be extended into north central Wisconsin to make it longer.
Jay's minimal freeway example above far surpasses that however.
For N/S, from the Canadian border north of Dunseth, ND to just north of El Indio, TX is 1,569 miles with only 8 miles on I-90 in SD and 2.5 miles on I-20 in TX.
For just a fun one, from Manley Hot Springs to Prudhoe Bay in AK is 494 miles, and doesn't touch any of the unsigned AK interstates. If you're not counting unsigned interstates for this topic, from the Homer Spit to Prudhoe Bay is 1,078 miles.
Quote from: formulanone on August 22, 2023, 03:17:51 PM
Denver to Dallas is 800 miles to city centers, about 220 miles of it is interstate (mostly comprised of I-25 in Colorado).
One can stick to US 287 for even less Interstate, the brunt of it coming after our beloved Limon :bigass:.
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on August 22, 2023, 04:22:36 PM
Quote from: formulanone on August 22, 2023, 03:17:51 PM
Denver to Dallas is 800 miles to city centers, about 220 miles of it is interstate (mostly comprised of I-25 in Colorado).
One can stick to US 287 for even less Interstate, the brunt of it coming after our beloved Limon :bigass:.
Whenever you make it to the U.S., I know which town will be your first destination after landing.
If we can include international borders, you can drive from Los Angeles, CA to Prudhoe Bay, AK, and only have to utilize I-5 between Tumwater and the Canadian border. Rest of the journey would include US-101 (non-freeway outside of California and a short Washington stretch), and then BC-99, BC-97, YK-2 (almost entirely non-freeway). I believe some of the Alaska highways are "technically" interstates, but don't have the actual qualities.
Granted I'm not quite sure what "ideal" means here, so maybe I'm missing the point.
Quote from: formulanone on August 22, 2023, 03:17:51 PM
Denver to Dallas is 800 miles to city centers, about 220 miles of it is interstate (mostly comprised of I-25 in Colorado).
Minot to Laredo has almost no interstate mileage along 1600 miles, but it feels like cheating since it's almost entirely US 83.
Is that what you're looking for?
Yep.
Quote from: Quillz on August 22, 2023, 04:29:13 PM
Granted I'm not quite sure what "ideal" means here, so maybe I'm missing the point.
"Ideal" in terms of travel time -- the route should take less or about the same amount of time as a route involving more Interstate travel.
Panama City, FL to Montgomery, AL is 3 hr 25 min (176.8 mi) on US 231.
Given I live in Fresno that can be lots of places. Heading east into Nevada usually offers some fairly lengthy stretches devoid of hitting Interstate. Right now if I were to head to Ely the most practical route I wouldn't hit Interstate at all.
Places along the US 101 corridor involve no interstates. Many cities of importance line it where you need to travel the US Route there.
However US 101 is mostly freeway or expressway grade especially in the Golden State. In California ironically, only in SF, Eureka, or Crescent City your on suburban arterials. From what I understand that from the East LA interchange to Van Ness in SF, there are no stoplights on US 101 now.
Regardless the route of 101 overlaps no interstates along its three state journey.
I have driven from Lake Tahoe to Phoenix a number of times for vacations, usually for spring training baseball.
It's 743 miles via the Google Maps most direct route, which is the one I usually use. That includes 37 miles on I-515 and I-11 from I-15 to Hoover Dam, 21 miles on I-40 east of Kingman, AZ, and depending on exact destination in the Phoenix metro area perhaps 20 miles on I-10, so that's just about 10% of it on interstates.
From North Adams to Boston in MA, your on MA 2 that only overlaps a very short concurrency with I-91. 141 miles that would be, but cutting down to I-90 is longer mileage wise but the same time wise according to the GPS info.
So this maybe iffy as far as the ideal route, being you have a choice in the matter.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 22, 2023, 03:35:40 PM
For an E/W, Greenbush, MI to just east of Wolf Point, MT is 1,242 miles and uses only 2 miles of I-35 in Duluth and I-75 for the Mackinac Bridge.
You can extend this even further by moving the endpoint further west. Greenbush, MI to Bonners Ferry, ID clocks in at just over 1970 miles and 31 hours estimated travel time.
Neither will win any awards here, but a few starting in the St Louis area:
Festus, MO to Little Rock, AR: 313 miles on US 67. Part of the fastest route from St Louis to the Texas Triangle cities.
Wentzville, MO to Iowa City, IA: 220 miles on US 61/US 218.
The best St Louis to St Paul route I'm getting recommended by Google Maps only uses 113 miles of interstate (40 miles of I-64 and all of I-380) of the 531 total miles of this route. The rest uses a combination of US 61, US 218, US 63 and US 52.
Quote from: roadman65 on August 22, 2023, 05:27:28 PM
From North Adams to Boston in MA, your on MA 2 that only overlaps a very short concurrency with I-91. 141 miles that would be, but cutting down to I-90 is longer mileage wise but the same time wise according to the GPS info.
So this maybe iffy as far as the ideal route, being you have a choice in the matter.
MA 2 is the best route to Boston from as far south as northern Hampshire County or southern Franklin (e.g., North Amherst, Leverett, Shutesbury, etc.).
Quote from: SkyPesos on August 22, 2023, 06:07:39 PM
Festus, MO to Little Rock, AR: 313 miles on US 67. Part of the fastest route from St Louis to the Texas Triangle cities.
Bit of a nitpick but this is sadly only the fastest route to Houston, not Dallas or Austin/San Antonio. Though, the trek through Oklahoma is miserable enough to consider doing this anyway, I suppose.
Weed CA to Ellensburg WA
And according to the truck company I used to work for, Columbus OH to Chicago IL . Not that I agree with that, because my ideal route for that is I-70 to I-65. But at least I got to see Lima OH lmao.
Quote from: ran4sh on August 22, 2023, 07:19:08 PM
And according to the truck company I used to work for, Columbus OH to Chicago IL . Not that I agree with that, because my ideal route for that is I-70 to I-65. But at least I got to see Lima OH lmao.
Hmm, now that you brought that up, I'm thinking how US 30/33 could be a great expressway routing between Chicago and Columbus via Fort Wayne, with some upgrades. US 30 is an expressway from I-65 to Fort Wayne, and US 33 is a freeway from I-270 to Bellefontaine. With either a 4-laning of US 33 from Bellefontaine to Fort Wayne or a new expressway that connects US 33 at Bellefontaine to US 30 near Lima, this could be sort of like a mirror corridor to the CKC, bypassing Indianapolis like how the CKC allows drivers to bypass St Louis.
Quote from: Ellie on August 22, 2023, 06:39:05 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on August 22, 2023, 06:07:39 PM
Festus, MO to Little Rock, AR: 313 miles on US 67. Part of the fastest route from St Louis to the Texas Triangle cities.
Bit of a nitpick but this is sadly only the fastest route to Houston, not Dallas or Austin/San Antonio. Though, the trek through Oklahoma is miserable enough to consider doing this anyway, I suppose.
I-44/US 69/US 75 is only faster than US 67/I-30 by about 10 minutes (which is not that much when this is a 10 hour drive anyways), but the US 67 routing still have a 2 lane section between Walnut Ridge, AR and just south of Poplar Bluff, MO. I'm expecting that to be upgraded to 4 lanes because of the Future I-57 designation before Oklahoma does anything on their part of US 69, which would make the US 67 routing for St Louis-Dallas more compelling in the future.
In my attempt to trace an old proposed extension of an existing Interstate, I decided to calculate the distance between Sacramento, CA and Cove Fort, UT (the current western terminus of said Interstate), and I got 654 miles via US 50 and UT 21. Maybe it was best not to build it at all because of how little traffic this route gets!
The easiest way to define "ideal" would be fastest, perhaps according to Google Maps, which will, of course, steer you on to a lot of Interstates. But if you weigh distance over time, accepting slower roads that are still basically highways, you can find some nice long US routes that are sufficiently far from Interstates that you might actually prefer them.
For instance US-191 is 1720 miles, and multiplexes with I-10, I-40, I-70, I-80, and I-90 for 113.7 miles.
US-95 is 1564 miles, and multiplexes with I-10, I-40, I-11, I-115, and I-80 for 149.2 miles.
US-395 is 1300 miles, and multiplexes with I-580, I-84, I-82, I-182, and I-90 for 142.2 miles.
This is because the N/S Interstates are further apart than the E/W ones. There's probably an even better example around the 100th meridian, because I-25 and I-35 are so far apart.
Quote from: webny99 on August 22, 2023, 05:50:39 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 22, 2023, 03:35:40 PM
For an E/W, Greenbush, MI to just east of Wolf Point, MT is 1,242 miles and uses only 2 miles of I-35 in Duluth and I-75 for the Mackinac Bridge.
You can extend this even further by moving the endpoint further west. Greenbush, MI to Bonners Ferry, ID clocks in at just over 1970 miles and 31 hours estimated travel time.
When I did, it moved the quickest way onto I-94. That was the farthest west that didn't do so.
Kingsport, Tennessee -to- Columbus, Ohio is 313 miles. But if you push the destination to Findlay, it is both faster and shorter to go I-81/I-40/I-75 (did someone still try to remind me to use I-640 to get around Knoxville?)
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 23, 2023, 01:55:50 AM
Quote from: webny99 on August 22, 2023, 05:50:39 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 22, 2023, 03:35:40 PM
For an E/W, Greenbush, MI to just east of Wolf Point, MT is 1,242 miles and uses only 2 miles of I-35 in Duluth and I-75 for the Mackinac Bridge.
You can extend this even further by moving the endpoint further west. Greenbush, MI to Bonners Ferry, ID clocks in at just over 1970 miles and 31 hours estimated travel time.
When I did, it moved the quickest way onto I-94. That was the farthest west that didn't do so.
It's close enough to a toss-up that it could be affected by the time of day or current traffic conditions. Google was recommending US 2 when I checked yesterday, but is now recommending I-94. Both routes show 31 hours, and US 2 is ~120 miles shorter, so that's close enough for me.
Quote from: SkyPesos on August 22, 2023, 08:09:16 PM
Quote from: Ellie on August 22, 2023, 06:39:05 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on August 22, 2023, 06:07:39 PM
Festus, MO to Little Rock, AR: 313 miles on US 67. Part of the fastest route from St Louis to the Texas Triangle cities.
Bit of a nitpick but this is sadly only the fastest route to Houston, not Dallas or Austin/San Antonio. Though, the trek through Oklahoma is miserable enough to consider doing this anyway, I suppose.
I-44/US 69/US 75 is only faster than US 67/I-30 by about 10 minutes (which is not that much when this is a 10 hour drive anyways), but the US 67 routing still have a 2 lane section between Walnut Ridge, AR and just south of Poplar Bluff, MO. I'm expecting that to be upgraded to 4 lanes because of the Future I-57 designation before Oklahoma does anything on their part of US 69, which would make the US 67 routing for St Louis-Dallas more compelling in the future.
I can tell you by experience that the section of US 67 between Festus and Poplar Bluff is infested by smokey bears, so there goes any time savings. The non-divided portion of Future I-57 is an extreme slog as well and not worth the time, although you will realize a shorter distance and some fuel savings.
Quote from: Road Hog on August 23, 2023, 10:22:24 PM
... the section of US 67 between Festus and Poplar Bluff is infested by smokey bears ...
Are you referring to actual bears, or is this an expression for something else?
Quote from: webny99 on August 23, 2023, 10:28:30 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on August 23, 2023, 10:22:24 PM
... the section of US 67 between Festus and Poplar Bluff is infested by smokey bears ...
Are you referring to actual bears, or is this an expression for something else?
Somebody needs to listen to C.W. McCall...
Quote from: Rothman on August 23, 2023, 10:36:15 PM
Quote from: webny99 on August 23, 2023, 10:28:30 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on August 23, 2023, 10:22:24 PM
... the section of US 67 between Festus and Poplar Bluff is infested by smokey bears ...
Are you referring to actual bears, or is this an expression for something else?
Somebody needs to listen to C.W. McCall...
Based on context I thought maybe it meant truck traffic, but I'd never heard that expression before.
Rockford, IL to Orin, WY is 879 miles, mostly US 20, but there are county roads in Nebraska. The only interstates are I-380 in the Waterloo area and I-129 in the Sioux City area when they overlap US 20.
I'm thinking anywhere in Hawaii to anywhere else, but upon further reflection perhaps American Samoa or Guam might be better starting points.
:bigass:
From here on James Island you can drive as far as Milledgeville, GA (223 miles) without having to hit a single interstate route.
Same with any US 17 route as far north as New Bern, NC or Morehead City. The only freeway is the I-140 bypass around ILM.
Phoenix to Boise is 925 miles, most of which is on US 93 (with the northernmost part on I-84, and the southern part to someday become I-11).
Anything from the Pacific Northwest to southern or southeastern Texas involves large chunks of non-interstate between Salt Lake City and Albuquerque (US 6, US 191, US 491, US 64, and US 550) and again southeast of there (US 84 or 285 in NM, then various other US highways depending on where it is in Texas you want to go).
Bonners Ferry, Idaho to Grand Portage, Minnesota on Google Maps is entirely off Interstate. 1433 miles and 23:33 in drive time. This might be the longest. :coffee:
Quote from: HighwayStar on August 25, 2023, 01:31:38 AM
Bonners Ferry, Idaho to Grand Portage, Minnesota on Google Maps is entirely off Interstate. 1433 miles and 23:33 in drive time. This might be the longest. :coffee:
Make it Point Roberts, WA and you're up to 1,915 miles and 32h.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 25, 2023, 08:47:10 AM
Quote from: HighwayStar on August 25, 2023, 01:31:38 AM
Bonners Ferry, Idaho to Grand Portage, Minnesota on Google Maps is entirely off Interstate. 1433 miles and 23:33 in drive time. This might be the longest. :coffee:
Make it Point Roberts, WA and you're up to 1,915 miles and 32h.
...because people from a bustling town with 2000 inhabitants are aching for that laid-back "small town experience" of only 700 people which happens to be incredibly distant. :D
Madison, WI to Columbia, MO is 413 miles, and the only interstate is about 15 miles of I-380 in Iowa. (Which you can bypass if you want by taking IA 1 through Iowa City, for three college towns in one trip.)
Not sure if this one was mentioned yet, but I know it from when I lived in Utah: 1,243 miles between Salt Lake City and Dallas, TX. Nearly all of which is on non-interstate highways.
Going from Fort Smith, AR to Texarkana is all two lane US 71 hence why I-49 is needed.
Heck in 2001 it was not even completed from Shreveport to Texarkana making the gap longer. It took me nearly all day to go from Neosho, MO to NOLA. The sun set south of Shreveport and I started at 9 am from Neosho after a good breakfast at the now defunct Shoneys.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 22, 2023, 03:35:40 PM
For an E/W, Greenbush, MI to just east of Wolf Point, MT is 1,242 miles and uses only 2 miles of I-35 in Duluth and I-75 for the Mackinac Bridge.
How do you get across ND?
Quote from: RM42 on September 01, 2023, 01:21:26 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 22, 2023, 03:35:40 PM
For an E/W, Greenbush, MI to just east of Wolf Point, MT is 1,242 miles and uses only 2 miles of I-35 in Duluth and I-75 for the Mackinac Bridge.
How do you get across ND?
US2.
Michigan and Montana being separated by just over a thousand miles blows my mind for some reason. Always imagined them to be farther apart.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on September 02, 2023, 02:32:33 AM
Michigan and Montana being separated by just over a thousand miles blows my mind for some reason. Always imagined them to be farther apart.
Actually it's just over 700 miles (Ironwood MI to Wibaux MT). Actual state lines are probably a few miles closer.
In a New England context, many west-east routes involve few interstates, especially in parts of Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. In southern New England, Hartford, CT ro Providence, RI (73 miles) is on US-6.
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on September 02, 2023, 08:45:09 AM
In a New England context, many west-east routes involve few interstates, especially in parts of Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. In southern New England, Hartford, CT ro Providence, RI (73 miles) is on US-6.
Calais, ME to Watertown, NY: 569 miles with only a short stretch on I-95 from Bangor to Newport.
Phoenix to Portland clocks over 2000 km (1271 miles to be exact) with the only significant section of Interstate being I-80 between Battle Mountain and Winnemucca, with I-40 where concurrent with US 93 and all of I-11 as well.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 22, 2023, 04:28:49 PM
Whenever you make it to the U.S., I know which town will be your first destination after landing.
Tell me how you know Belvidere, Illinois would be my first destination if/whenever I make it to the USA :sombrero:.
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on September 02, 2023, 09:11:29 AM
Tell me how you know Belvidere, Illinois would be my first destination if/whenever I make it to the USA :sombrero:.
Because you want to visit the birthplace of the Omni and Horizon? :-D
Phoenix to Reno only needs Interstate with I-11/515 in Vegas and I-580 in Carson City-Reno.
Quote from: therocket on September 03, 2023, 07:56:50 PM
Phoenix to Reno only needs Interstate with I-11/515 in Vegas and I-580 in Carson City-Reno.
Plus a bit of I-40 east of Kingman.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, you could extend the hypothesis all the way to Portland by going up US-395, CA-139, OR-39, US-97, and US-26, a ride I enjoyed once back in the 1990s. (Or is that the hypotenuse?)
Quote from: therocket on September 03, 2023, 07:56:50 PM
Phoenix to Reno only needs Interstate with I-11/515 in Vegas and I-580 in Carson City-Reno.
Phoenix to Reno wouldn't even take I-580.
I haven't seen any ADHS corridors mentioned in this thread yet, so I wonder how far you can get using a combination of those. They might be the longest ones here in the eastern part of the country, as otherwise, the examples in this thread are in the western half.
Columbus to Kingsport is 313 miles using US 23 (Corridor B). Could stretch this up to Toledo, but at that point, I-75 is faster by 5 minutes.
Not the most ideal route here, but Cincinnati to DC is only half an hour slower using a combination of OH 32/US 50 (Corridor D) and US 48 (Corridor H) than I-70, though it's shorter in distance. Could stretch this even further to some point on the Delmarva Peninsula (thinking Ocean City, via US 50).
Quote from: pderocco on September 03, 2023, 08:31:32 PM
As has been pointed out elsewhere, you could extend the hypothesis all the way to Portland by going up US-395, CA-139, OR-39, US-97, and US-26, a ride I enjoyed once back in the 1990s. (Or is that the hypotenuse?)
Except when I asked Mr. Google the route broke off US 95 in Tonopah and went up NV 376, NV 305, I-80, back to US 95, OR 78, US 20 and Millican Road to US 26. Going via Reno would be longer, but admitedly less Interstate.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on September 02, 2023, 02:32:33 AM
Michigan and Montana being separated by just over a thousand miles blows my mind for some reason. Always imagined them to be farther apart.
I always liked the fun fact that El Paso, TX is closer to the Pacific Ocean than it is to Orange, TX which is along the Louisiana border. Just to give a sense of scale how large Texas is.
And then building on that: Alaska is 240% larger than Texas.
Quote from: GaryV on September 02, 2023, 10:20:35 AM
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on September 02, 2023, 09:11:29 AM
Tell me how you know Belvidere, Illinois would be my first destination if/whenever I make it to the USA :sombrero:.
Because you want to visit the birthplace of the Omni and Horizon? :-D
Is there a 12-step program for this?
[former Dodge Neon owner sheepishly raises hand]
While not on the scale of some of the others, New Jersey has some surprisingly long distances where taking an interstate (or any freeway) is either slower or at least not faster. The longest is probably from Trenton to south of Milford, PA. That's 93 miles of NJ 29, CR 546, CR 579, NJ 3, US 46, I-80 (6 miles just to cross into PA), and US 209. Another is Delaware Memorial Bridge to Cape May, some 73 miles via NJ 49, CR 670, NJ 347, and NJ 47. While using NJ 55 and Garden State Parkway (both freeways but not Interstates) for 27 of those miles is an option, it's not really faster. If you want to include non-Interstate freeways, the length of the Garden State Parkway (including the extension into New York) is 174 miles.
Hartford to anywhere on the OBX in NC is about 340 miles of non-Interstate driving if you route yourself down the Delmarva Peninsula. This does include travel distance on the NJ 700-signed portion of the NJTP.
Bliss, Idaho to Las Vegas is over 500 miles best served by US 30 to 93 (with help from Nevada 318)