My least favorite Interstate with twists and turns to rival any Eastern Kentucky road. It has been widened nicely thru Clarksburg but other than that it is not a joyous ride. Went thru this week and Clarksburg widening appears to be finished. Some paving work being done south of Clarksburg and one big bridge project north of Charleston.
Quote from: ShawnP on May 11, 2012, 09:16:46 AM
My least favorite Interstate with twists and turns to rival any Eastern Kentucky road. It has been widened nicely thru Clarksburg but other than that it is not a joyous ride. Went thru this week and Clarksburg widening appears to be finished. Some paving work being done south of Clarksburg and one big bridge project north of Charleston.
First time I was ever on I-79 was in the early 80s, on a family vacation to Washington, DC. We took it to Morgantown and then the old US 48 to Cumberland, and then old US 40 across to Hancock. I loved I-79.
Was not on it again until 2000, when I drove it as far north as Weston. I enjoyed the drive.
Now, I've been on it so many times and there is nothing new for me to see, so it kills me. When I'm going to the northeast, somehow I wish there was a Star Trek-type transporter that would pick me and my car up and beam me down somewhere around Cumberland, I've gotten so tired of that road.
I remember driving thru I-68 as it was under construction in early April 1989 east of Cumberland. It was a trip from South Carolina to Maine via Kentucky. A lot of driving on that leave period. It's been over twenty years but I seem to remember two way traffic as they completed the new road. It was one of those road trips that is was snowing in the Mountains of Western Maryland.
Correction: In 1991, I traveled west on US 40 and US 48 to I-79, and then south to home. I had forgotten about that. It was December, so there was snow in the higher elevations. Most of US 40 was four-lane by that time, and it was the year before the route got the I-68 designation.
As much as I hate I-79. I love I-68 that much. Drove thru last fall and got Sideling Hill with Fall Foliage at peak. Got one day with fog halfway up Sideling Hill and some good back lighting.
I don't know how you would figure this, or what you would call the statistic, but 79 from just outside Charleston to Clarksburg, and 68's entire run certainly rivals 80 in Pennsylvania and 87 north of Albany for passing within 10 miles of the least number of occupied dwellings.
79 crosses the dull, empty woodland that is central WV.
Quote from: SP Cook on May 13, 2012, 07:26:48 AM
I don't know how you would figure this, or what you would call the statistic, but 79 from just outside Charleston to Clarksburg, and 68's entire run certainly rivals 80 in Pennsylvania and 87 north of Albany for passing within 10 miles of the least number of occupied dwellings.
79 crosses the dull, empty woodland that is central WV.
Someone must have had a lot of fun with ArcGIS. :P
As for I-79 in WV, I like the road. It is certainly much more fun to drive than, say, I-40 in eastern Arkansas.
Quote from: codyg1985 on May 14, 2012, 09:11:59 PM
As for I-79 in WV, I like the road. It is certainly much more fun to drive than, say, I-40 in eastern Arkansas.
I've never had an enema, but I almost think that would be more fun than driving I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis.
Quote from: hbelkins on May 14, 2012, 11:02:37 PM
Quote from: codyg1985 on May 14, 2012, 09:11:59 PM
As for I-79 in WV, I like the road. It is certainly much more fun to drive than, say, I-40 in eastern Arkansas.
I've never had an enema, but I almost think that would be more fun than driving I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis.
what is so bad about it? I've driven it twice and didn't mind it... once on a Tuesday around noon, once sometime in the middle of the night.
I assume it is clogged with trucks, but not much more so than other famous truck hells like I-10 in El Paso.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 15, 2012, 10:46:57 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on May 14, 2012, 11:02:37 PM
Quote from: codyg1985 on May 14, 2012, 09:11:59 PM
As for I-79 in WV, I like the road. It is certainly much more fun to drive than, say, I-40 in eastern Arkansas.
I've never had an enema, but I almost think that would be more fun than driving I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis.
what is so bad about it? I've driven it twice and didn't mind it... once on a Tuesday around noon, once sometime in the middle of the night.
I assume it is clogged with trucks, but not much more so than other famous truck hells like I-10 in El Paso.
Clogged with trucks, and there isn't much at all to look at, not even much of anything interesting road-sign wise.
No scenery at all. Kinda like I-55 from Sikeston south to Memphis.
I was stationed at Little Rock AFB in the late 80s. If that section of I-40 is still as boring as it was back the... znzx... sorry, I dozed off just recalling it.
It's stretches of roadway like that that the term "highway narcosis" was coined for.
Quote from: hbelkins on May 15, 2012, 11:45:14 AM
No scenery at all. Kinda like I-55 from Sikeston south to Memphis.
Or I-57 from Chicago to Sikeston, save for that brief stretch where it's hilly.
The pavement on I-40 is rubbish as well.