Top 10 Road Geeking Spots in your state

[GCrites]

Kentucky, in no particular order


West Virginia

New River Gorge Bridge
Wheeling Suspension Bridge
Philippi Covered Bridge
Corridor H from Davis to Wardensville
I-64 eastbound descending into New River Gorge
East River Mountain tunnel
Wheeling Tunnel
???
???
???

How about

The whole WV Turnpike, trying to spot areas where the dualization is really obvious
US 52 along the Big Sandy and Tug Rivers including the KIng Coal Hwy
Old US 60 alignments between Huntington and Charleston

[hbelkins]

The whole WV Turnpike, trying to spot areas where the dualization is really obvious

The old Memorial Tunnel, if the public could get in to see it, would be neat.

US 52 along the Big Sandy and Tug Rivers including the KIng Coal Hwy

Driven that a bunch of times and not really impressed, but that little new section near Kermit is interesting. Most of it is blocked off now, but I drove it when it was open. Some might find that new isolated four-lane section southeast of Williamson to be of interest, since it really doesn't connect to anything as a through route at the moment.

Old US 60 alignments between Huntington and Charleston

Didn't know there were any.

[triplemultiplex]

No love from Virginians for all the other submarine highway tunnels in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area?  The density of those types of crossings is greater than even NYC.
Also you can't forget about the FHWA test facility near Blacksburg.

And for Michigan, you've gotta add the "Paulding Light"; a place on an old alignment of US 45 north of Watersmeet where the headlights of SB traffic several miles away refract in a way that obscures its source and leads to crazy ghost stories and junk.
Another good one for MI is secret I-296 in Grand Rapids; added bonus is the I-196/US 131 interchange; one of the few places where the carriageways on both intersecting freeways switch sides for a system interchange.

[pderocco]

In California:

1) The Five Mile Grade on I-5, just north of Castaic, is I believe the longest piece of divided highway (4.5 miles) in the country where the two sides are swapped. It's actually quite spectacular, looking across the canyon from one side to the other. There are remnants of a runaway truck ramp on what is now the uphill side, but which used to be US-99 in its entirety. Also, the old Ridge Route Road runs right along a piece of the downhill side, and it feels strange driving that little road and seeing the cars whiz by you at 75mph going the "wrong" way.

2) The various attempts to connect CA-39 in Azusa up to CA-2, the Angeles Crest Highway, are interesting. The first attempt left us the famous Bridge to Nowhere (https://goo.gl/maps/GzmTaeZJbwu), which you can hike to, and swim under. The second was Shoemaker Road, the first couple of miles of which you can still drive, and the rest which you can hike, up to a couple of Tunnels to Nowhere (https://goo.gl/maps/tnPwc6j8zC12). The third successfully connected, I believe in 1961, but closed in 1978. That stretch can be hiked or biked, and is probably still used as a fire road.

3) Kaiser Pass Road from Huntington Lake out to Florence Lake, and Edison Lake Road which branches off of it out to Edison Lake, are scary one-lane semi-paved roads which often hug the face of a cliff. Amazingly, there is an actual US Post Office off this road in Mono Hot Springs. This passes by several interesting bits of aqueduct infrastructure.

4) Rock Creek Road, out of Tom's Place, is the highest paved road in California, at about 10235 feet, which isn't that impressive compared to some Colorado Roads. But there is a dirt road, not open to the public except by foot (or perhaps by mountain bike, if you've got lungs of steel) that goes to the very top of White Mountain above Bishop, at 14246 feet, making it the highest road in the country.

5) There are remains of an old plank road across the Algodones Dunes (https://goo.gl/maps/7HBP4N86wK42) built in 1915.

6) If you drive (or hike) the 4WD road up to Rogers Peak in the Panamint Range, you can see the highest peak in the continental US (Mt. Whitney) and the lowest point (Badwater in Death Valley).

7) CA-74, the Pines to Palms Highway from Mountain Center to Palm Desert goes through a particular spaghetti-like stretch as it descends into the valley. This was the location of the extended opening sequence of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

8) State route 173 between Lake Arrowhead and Hesperia still has an unpaved section, perhaps the only unpaved state route in the California. It is now closed to traffic by gates, although I managed to drive it twice before the gates were shut. It can still be hiked or biked.

9) CA-4, going over the mountains has a 22-mile very narrow stretch that only has white lines down the edges, nothing down the middle. That's a long piece of that kind of road for a state highway.

10) One of the longest named streets in the state, Foothill Blvd. (LA and SBD counties), starts at another one of the longest named streets in the state, Sierra Highway (LA and Kern counties), about 250yds from the latter's southern end. This intersection is almost directly underneath the complicated I-5/CA-14 interchange, which has the dubious distinction of being nearly destroyed by earthquakes twice, in 1971 and 1994.

[Rothman]

No love from Virginians for all the other submarine highway tunnels in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area?  The density of those types of crossings is greater than even NYC.

I was going to mention the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel.

[1995hoo]

No love from Virginians for all the other submarine highway tunnels in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area?  The density of those types of crossings is greater than even NYC.

I was going to mention the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel.

I simply felt once the CBBT was on the list the others would be kind of duplicative, and I felt the CBBT is the most interesting of them.

[GCrites]

The whole WV Turnpike, trying to spot areas where the dualization is really obvious

The old Memorial Tunnel, if the public could get in to see it, would be neat.

US 52 along the Big Sandy and Tug Rivers including the KIng Coal Hwy

Driven that a bunch of times and not really impressed, but that little new section near Kermit is interesting. Most of it is blocked off now, but I drove it when it was open. Some might find that new isolated four-lane section southeast of Williamson to be of interest, since it really doesn't connect to anything as a through route at the moment.

Old US 60 alignments between Huntington and Charleston

Didn't know there were any.

[/quote]

The old US 60 stuff is very rugged and narrow. It's tough to spot a lot of times. Norway Ave. in Huntington is an example.

[CtrlAltDel]

Illinois (my list, and YMMV):

* AASHO Test Loop on I-80 near Ottawa.
* Dan Ryan Expressway, 14 lane section with express and local lanes.
* The five over-the-road Illinois Tollway Oases.
* The rest areas on I-55 just north of Springfield.
* Kampsville Ferry - only ferry in Illinois to carry a state route (IL-108).
* Interstate 180.
* Old Chain Of Rocks Bridges (one is shared with Missouri).
* The drawbridges of Chicago and Joliet.
* The I-88/I-355 interchange.
* Lake Shore Drive.

Not that I'm disagreeing, but what is it that interests you about these rest areas?

[Brandon]

Illinois (my list, and YMMV):

* AASHO Test Loop on I-80 near Ottawa.
* Dan Ryan Expressway, 14 lane section with express and local lanes.
* The five over-the-road Illinois Tollway Oases.
* The rest areas on I-55 just north of Springfield.
* Kampsville Ferry - only ferry in Illinois to carry a state route (IL-108).
* Interstate 180.
* Old Chain Of Rocks Bridges (one is shared with Missouri).
* The drawbridges of Chicago and Joliet.
* The I-88/I-355 interchange.
* Lake Shore Drive.

Not that I'm disagreeing, but what is it that interests you about these rest areas?

They are the only examples of 1950s googie-type architecture in the entire Illinois rest area system.  Very unique roofs, lights, etc.  They even retain the original tiling inside.

Here's some GSV of them:

Southbound
Northbound

[GCrites]

^That is cool.

[noelbotevera]

Let's take a shot at PA then, in no particular order.

1) I-76 as the Schuykill Expressway in Philadelphia

2) I-376 between MM 72 to the Turnpike

3) I-76 (PA Turnpike) from MM 115 to MM 128

4) PA 8 between I-376 and PA 28 in Aspinwall

5) PA Turnpike service plazas

6) Abandoned PA Turnpike

7) US 30 from Breezewood to Chambersburg

8) Highland Park Bridge (PA 28) in Pittsburgh/Aspinwall

9) I-676 between I-76 and the Ben Franklin Bridge

10) I-95 between exit 9 and exit 25

[JakeFromNewEngland]

I guess I'll do Connecticut.

I-84/CT 8 Mixmaster Interchange in Waterbury.

CT 8 through the Naugatuck State Forest (some button copy signs left, lots of natural beauty..)

Any of the covered bridges located in NW CT.

I-95/I-91/CT 34 interchange in New Haven.

I-84 through East Hartford (lanes galore, modern interchanges)

Merritt Parkway (Nationally ranked road, lots of scenery, historic bridges)

West Rock Tunnel on the Wilbur Cross Parkway

The whole length of CT 34 due to the now dead freeway stub in New Haven, an antiquated divided highway stretch, and the scenic route along the Housatonic.

The I-291 stubs in West Hartford at the CT 9 interchange.

The new Q Bridge in New Haven.

*DISCLAIMER: These are in no particular order.

[bulldog1979]

Added bonus is the I-196/US 131 interchange; one of the few places where the carriageways on both intersecting freeways switch sides for a system interchange.

US 131 switches sides, but I-196 does not. The Interstate's two carriageways cross through the interchange and over the adjacent Grand River at different elevations, but they don't cross each other.

[formulanone]

Alabama [feel free to amend...I've only been here two years]

George C. Wallace and Bankhead Tunnels in Mobile
Red Mountain Parkway (US 280) in Birmingham
Edmund Pettus Bridge
Loads of old bridges, infrastructure, and strange signs in Birmingham
I-22 construction / I-422 on-going things (for the next three decades)
Scattered, rare, and old white-background signs and captive-county markers
Metric kilometer-markers in odd places
Gadsden has a bunch of old bridges spanning the Coosa River
AL 176 because it winds and bends and turns around the side of a canyon
Slatted dark green overhead signs (Huntsville, Mobile) which are disappearing, rare finds elsewhere in the country.

[hm insulators]

Arizona:

Old stretches of Route 66, including the longest stretch between the California state line and Seligman.

Oak Creek Canyon (AZ 89A between Flagstaff and Sedona). Also that same road through Jerome.

US 60 where it drops into, crosses, then climbs back out of Salt River Canyon. A few years ago, when Truvelo visited Arizona, I showed it to him.

Apache Trail between Apache Junction and Roosevelt Lake. This includes about a 20-mile stretch of dirt road.

I-10 Deck Park Tunnel under downtown Phoenix.

The "Inner Loop" where I-10 and I-17 meet twice near downtown Phoenix.

The road along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Navajo Bridge across the Colorado River in northern Arizona (US 89).

Mt. Lemmon Highway just north of Tucson.

I-19 with its mileage signs in kilometers.

Hawaii is tough to get to for roadgeeking, but there are some worthwhile roads over there.

KAUAI: Waimea Canyon Road (HI 550) to Kokee State Park.

The Tree Tunnel (HI 520 just south of HI 50)

The one-lane bridges in the Hanalei area on the north shore, including a beautiful cantilever truss bridge over 100 years old.

OAHU: The Hawaiian interstates in and around Honolulu.

Pali Highway (HI 61) between Honolulu and Kailua, especially where it's on the edge of the cliff, or pali. Also Likelike Highway (HI 63).

MAUI: Hawaii's most famous road, the Hana Highway (HI 360), a narrow winding thing along the east coast of the island.

The road up to the top of Haleakala, a 10,000-foot volcano.

BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII: HI 11 and 19, the road around the island.

Saddle Road (HI 200), much improved in recent years. Off this road, the road to the top of Mauna Kea, especially if you're into astronomy.

South Point Road, just so you can say you were on the southernmost road in the United States.

Any of the roads in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where you can drive on roads built on an erupting volcano (Kilauea)! Drive down Chain of Craters Road until the road simply disappears under a lava flow. Drive around Kilauea's caldera on Crater Rim Road.

[apeman33]

There's one place I would add to Kansas. It's a hometown thing, so I'm probably biased. Just southeast of the Garden City Airport on U.S. 50/400, you can see two old alignments of U.S. 50.



The one on the far left is the original 1930's road. It's very narrow and I'm pretty sure it's concrete. The middle one is the alignment used until about four or five years ago. They're difficult to see as you go from east around the curve northeast, but they can both be seen going from northwest to east. The the current alignment has a smoother curve and links at the north end to the four-lane that was constructed that carries the highway to Garden City. A strip of one of the alignments can be seen going along the south side of U.S. 50 on the north edge of Pierceville. It seems to be the original alignment but the curve here and the straight part skirting the north side of Pierceville are no longer connected.

Even though I lived there until I was 22 and I go back to visit the family twice a year, I've never stopped for a closer look, even though I keep telling myself I will. And actually, it might be easier check them out on foot from Mansfield Road.

Edit: My dad has pointed out there are three old alignments. There's a strip of old road to the southwest of the 1930s pavement. I never noticed because you can't see that strip from the highway.

[dgolub]

New York is a huge state, so I'll stick to downstate since it's what I know best.

* Robert Moses Causeway
* Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) stub endings
* Montauk Point Lighthouse/eastern terminus of NY 27
* Stack interchange of the Grand Central Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295)
* All or almost all of the MTA bridges
* Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87/I-287)
* Bronx Parkway and Saw Mill Parkway (traffic lights on a parkway)
* Bethpage Parkway (super-2)
* Ocean Parkway
* Bruckner Interchange

[empirestate]

New York is a huge state, so I'll stick to downstate since it's what I know best.

* Robert Moses Causeway
* Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) stub endings
* Montauk Point Lighthouse/eastern terminus of NY 27
* Stack interchange of the Grand Central Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295)
* All or almost all of the MTA bridges
* Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87/I-287)
* Bronx Parkway and Saw Mill Parkway (traffic lights on a parkway)
* Bethpage Parkway (super-2)
* Ocean Parkway
* Bruckner Interchange

Curiously, why the MTA bridges but not the Port Authority or NYC ones? Myself, I'd nominate the whole stretch from the GWB to the Highbridge Interchange; and who among us shouldn't check out the Brooklyn Bridge?


iPhone

[froggie]

Minnesota

1. Abandoned US 61 border crossing at Grand Portage
2. I-35 cut/cover tunnels in Duluth
3. I-35W/MN 62 interchange in Richfield
4. I-35E parkway section in St. Paul
5. Old US 61/MN 61 from Wyoming to Grand Portage
6. New MN 7 interchanges near MN 100
7. US 169/CR 101 (old MN 101) interchange in Shakopee
8. I-394 reversible lanes
9. I-494/US 10/61 interchange in Newport
10. I-494/MN 5 interchange near the MSP airport

I don't see #6 as particularly noteworthy.  I'd drop it in favor of the MnROAD project along I-94 between Albertville and Monticello.


Vermont isn't very roadgeeky in the traditional sense, but we do have a few gems in the state.  In no particular order:

- (For now) the abandoned extension of I-189 west of US 7
- VT 289 (especially the stub ramps at each end)
- The US 7/VT 279 Bennington Bypass interchange
- VT 108 Smuggler's Notch (unless you're in a semi)
- Rock cuts at the I-89/I-91 interchange in White River Jct, especially for the SB 89 to NB 91 flyover.
- VT 58 Hazen Notch (closed in the winter)
- VT 100 Morrisville bypass (probably the last new road VTrans will ever build).

[vdeane]

New York is a huge state, so I'll stick to downstate since it's what I know best.

* Robert Moses Causeway
* Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) stub endings
* Montauk Point Lighthouse/eastern terminus of NY 27
* Stack interchange of the Grand Central Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295)
* All or almost all of the MTA bridges
* Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87/I-287)
* Bronx Parkway and Saw Mill Parkway (traffic lights on a parkway)
* Bethpage Parkway (super-2)
* Ocean Parkway
* Bruckner Interchange

Guess I'll do upstate:
* The "circle" interchange between I-787 and the South Mall Arterial
* The Inner Loop (what's left of it)
* I-790
* I-587
* Thousand Islands Bridge
* I-81/I-690 interchange
* Buffalo Skyway
* Kamikaze Curve
* The "Can of Worms" (I-490/I-590 interchange)
* Adirondack Northway (I-87) in Warren/Essex Counties

[Rothman]

New York is a huge state, so I'll stick to downstate since it's what I know best.

* Robert Moses Causeway
* Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) stub endings
* Montauk Point Lighthouse/eastern terminus of NY 27
* Stack interchange of the Grand Central Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295)
* All or almost all of the MTA bridges
* Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87/I-287)
* Bronx Parkway and Saw Mill Parkway (traffic lights on a parkway)
* Bethpage Parkway (super-2)
* Ocean Parkway
* Bruckner Interchange

Curiously, why the MTA bridges but not the Port Authority or NYC ones? Myself, I'd nominate the whole stretch from the GWB to the Highbridge Interchange; and who among us shouldn't check out the Brooklyn Bridge?


iPhone

I'd put in the outer roadway of the Queensboro Bridge.

[Buffaboy]

New York is a huge state, so I'll stick to downstate since it's what I know best.

* Robert Moses Causeway
* Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) stub endings
* Montauk Point Lighthouse/eastern terminus of NY 27
* Stack interchange of the Grand Central Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295)
* All or almost all of the MTA bridges
* Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87/I-287)
* Bronx Parkway and Saw Mill Parkway (traffic lights on a parkway)
* Bethpage Parkway (super-2)
* Ocean Parkway
* Bruckner Interchange

Guess I'll do upstate:
* The "circle" interchange between I-787 and the South Mall Arterial
* The Inner Loop (what's left of it)
* I-790
* I-587
* Thousand Islands Bridge
* I-81/I-690 interchange
* Buffalo Skyway
* Kamikaze Curve
* The "Can of Worms" (I-490/I-590 interchange)
* Adirondack Northway (I-87) in Warren/Essex Counties

Would you throw the Peace Br. and GI Bridges in?

[empirestate]

New York is a huge state, so I'll stick to downstate since it's what I know best.

* Robert Moses Causeway
* Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) stub endings
* Montauk Point Lighthouse/eastern terminus of NY 27
* Stack interchange of the Grand Central Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295)
* All or almost all of the MTA bridges
* Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87/I-287)
* Bronx Parkway and Saw Mill Parkway (traffic lights on a parkway)
* Bethpage Parkway (super-2)
* Ocean Parkway
* Bruckner Interchange

Guess I'll do upstate:
* The "circle" interchange between I-787 and the South Mall Arterial
* The Inner Loop (what's left of it)
* I-790
* I-587
* Thousand Islands Bridge
* I-81/I-690 interchange
* Buffalo Skyway
* Kamikaze Curve
* The "Can of Worms" (I-490/I-590 interchange)
* Adirondack Northway (I-87) in Warren/Essex Counties

Would you throw the Peace Br. and GI Bridges in?

I mean, we only get to pick ten spanning both upstate and downstate. There's only so many bridges we can nominate. The Triborough is also important because of its heritage as the keystone of the Moses legacy. And what about the Verrazano, our mightiest?

But the list of ten needs to also have room for less flashy, but no less interesting features like the only road under the Erie Canal, right?


iPhone

[dgolub]

New York is a huge state, so I'll stick to downstate since it's what I know best.

* Robert Moses Causeway
* Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) stub endings
* Montauk Point Lighthouse/eastern terminus of NY 27
* Stack interchange of the Grand Central Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295)
* All or almost all of the MTA bridges
* Tappan Zee Bridge (I-87/I-287)
* Bronx Parkway and Saw Mill Parkway (traffic lights on a parkway)
* Bethpage Parkway (super-2)
* Ocean Parkway
* Bruckner Interchange

Curiously, why the MTA bridges but not the Port Authority or NYC ones? Myself, I'd nominate the whole stretch from the GWB to the Highbridge Interchange; and who among us shouldn't check out the Brooklyn Bridge?


iPhone

Yeah, I suppose I'll concur with you on that.  Certainly the four to Brooklyn and Queens deserve inclusion as well, and the drive up the Harlem River Drive or I-87 past all the bridges between Manhattan and the Bronx is pretty neat.

[GCrites]

There's one place I would add to Kansas. It's a hometown thing, so I'm probably biased. Just southeast of the Garden City Airport on U.S. 50/400, you can see two old alignments of U.S. 50.



The one on the far left is the original 1930's road. It's very narrow and I'm pretty sure it's concrete. The middle one is the alignment used until about four or five years ago. They're difficult to see as you go from east around the curve northeast, but they can both be seen going from northwest to east. The the current alignment has a smoother curve and links at the north end to the four-lane that was constructed that carries the highway to Garden City. A strip of one of the alignments can be seen going along the south side of U.S. 50 on the north edge of Pierceville. It seems to be the original alignment but the curve here and the straight part skirting the north side of Pierceville are no longer connected.

Even though I lived there until I was 22 and I go back to visit the family twice a year, I've never stopped for a closer look, even though I keep telling myself I will. And actually, it might be easier check them out on foot from Mansfield Road.

Edit: My dad has pointed out there are three old alignments. There's a strip of old road to the southwest of the 1930s pavement. I never noticed because you can't see that strip from the highway.

Once you get to three old alignments things get really, really bad ass.