Lightest traveled 4 lane road in your state.

[Roadgeekteen]

What about 4 lane roads that are lightly traveled?

[csw]

Please let this quarantine end so these reduntant threads end too...

There are so many 4-lane roads and sections of roads that this is probably an impossible question to answer

[webny99]

Normally I would say this is hardly distinct enough from the existing threads to make some sense as its own thread.

However, unlike with Interstates and freeways, we'll get some urban examples, especially in Rust Belt cities, so that should spice it up. Also, some states, like Mississippi, 4-lane almost every rural highway, while others, like NY, reserve 4 lanes for freeways and not much else. So it will be interesting to see these different approaches show up.

I'll ignore NY's parkways, which have been discussed plenty in the other threads, and start off with an urban candidate for NY: Buffalo Ave, Niagara Falls, NY. AADT of 3616 according to NYSDOT's most recent data.

[ilpt4u]

I'm sure its some part of the IL 110 CKC in Western IL/Forgottonia, but no numbers data

[jakeroot]

Can't say I'm a big fan of these threads. It becomes either a link or picture party, and not enough discussion. But I'll still participate in the off-chance someone disagrees with me.

Not one chance I could come up with the quietest four lane road in Washington. There's gotta be thousands of different roads that could qualify.

Within the Tacoma area, my nomination would 72 St, between Canyon Road and Woodland Avenue. Technically Pierce County, but it's in the region.

The road is 3 lanes coming in from both ends of this four lane stretch. The entire corridor had been envisioned as a four or five lane arterial when it was constructed in the 1970s, but the traffic to support that many lanes simply never materialized. West of the four lane stretch pictured here, the road was recently narrowed to three lane (two lanes + TWLTL), and I think it's only a matter of time before this stretch is narrowed as well (although maybe to two lanes uphill, one lane downhill, or four lanes but the second downhill lane becomes a TWLTL).

[Roadgeekteen]

If there are to many four lane roads, just think about expressway grade roads.

[sprjus4]

Looking at rural 4-lane arterial highways vs. urban examples, US-58 in Virginia near Meadows of Dan carries 1,400 AADT.

[cl94]

I'll ignore NY's parkways, which have been discussed plenty in the other threads, and start off with an urban candidate for NY: Buffalo Ave, Niagara Falls, NY. AADT of 3616 according to NYSDOT's most recent data.

US 20 north of Cherry Valley cuts that in half. 1760 for an expressway-grade road.

[wxfree]

There's a short stretch of US 90 that is a four-lane divided highway just east of the eastern intersection with US 385 in a very rural area outside of Marathon, TX.  The count west of there, where US 90 and 385 are concurrent, is 823.  The count on US 385 to the north is 234.  Roughly the rest of the traffic uses the four-lane section, so that's about 600.  The first official count east of there is miles away at 420.

[webny99]

I'll ignore NY's parkways, which have been discussed plenty in the other threads, and start off with an urban candidate for NY: Buffalo Ave, Niagara Falls, NY. AADT of 3616 according to NYSDOT's most recent data.

US 20 north of Cherry Valley cuts that in half. 1760 for an expressway-grade road.

Never understood why that section is four lanes, much less divided.

[jeffandnicole]

If I had to guess...and this is probably a really bad guess...there's a section of US 130 in NJ below the Commodore Barry Bridge (and more specifically, below High Hill Rd) that's 4 lanes with very little traffic.

[Max Rockatansky]

Ridge Route Alternate AKA Golden State Highway (former US 99) comes to mind in California. 

[Super Mateo]

I don't know about the whole state, but the village of Tinley Park has 163rd Street/Centennial Drive, which is residences, small offices, a bowling alley and the back of a plaza.  It's not an arterial.  It's a side street.  None of those generate large amounts of traffic, so why the road is four lanes, I don't know.

[ftballfan]

This section of Main St (former M-61) in downtown Marion is marked as five lanes (two lanes each way plus a center turn lane) and still has room for parking on both sides! I found an AADT of 1173 from 2011, likely taken in downtown Marion. An AADT figure taken three miles to the east shows a figure of 104 (!!!). For comparison, current M-61 has around 1500 AADT east of M-66 and only 710 AADT between M-66 and M-115, so even at its busiest, it's hard to think that Main St in Marion ever had an AADT above 3,000 even when M-61 was running on it.

There are some lightly-traveled roads in Detroit which have four (or more) lanes.

[hotdogPi]

The long driveway to Raytheon in Andover, MA is 4 lanes. AADT could probably be figured out from the employment numbers, but I can't find them.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

For major Minnesota routes, it looks like it might be US 2 which dips to 3500 on the east side of Crookston. I also found 2800 on the old US 61 expressway between I-35 and the east side of Esko in Carlton County.

[NWI_Irish96]

Not going to take the time to look it up, but my guess is it's one of the following:

IN 931 (northern) between IN 4 and Tyler Rd
IN 63 between IN 32 and IN 234
IN 3 between IN 8 and IN 205

[nexus73]

There is a small stretch of 4-lane from old US 66 which I think is by Texahoma that has very few houses on it.  The former main highway is now just a rural route for locals so I would imagine the daily traffic count is between 100 and 200, which is a far cry from its halcyon days.

That would be my candidate for lowest volume 4-lane highway in the USA.

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

There is a small stretch of 4-lane from old US 66 which I think is by Texahoma that has very few houses on it.  The former main highway is now just a rural route for locals so I would imagine the daily traffic count is between 100 and 200, which is a far cry from its halcyon days.

That would be my candidate for lowest volume 4-lane highway in the USA.

Rick

I think Golden State Highway has that one beat.  All that road really ever sees is weird people like me who have an affinity for running/hiking old highways. 

[Brian556]

AL 62 near Guntersville AL. It leads to and abandoned industrial facility. This ain't my state, but I feel its worth noting here https://www.google.com/maps/@34.4330391,-86.2036825,5683m/data=!3m1!1e3

[tdindy88]

Not going to take the time to look it up, but my guess is it's one of the following:

IN 931 (northern) between IN 4 and Tyler Rd
IN 63 between IN 32 and IN 234
IN 3 between IN 8 and IN 205

IN 63 is likely the big winner but it's more the segment from the split with US 41 in Warren County south toward US 136 that's the lightest traveled. Roughly 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles per day. The stretch from SR 32 to SR 234 slightly busier.

[US 89]

Too lazy to hunt down AADT numbers for Utah, but I wouldn't be surprised if the winner is this section of former US 30S through Echo.



That's been bypassed by I-84 and I-80. The only people who would have any reason to use that road anymore are the 50 people who still live in Echo.

[sprjus4]

Looking at rural 4-lane arterial highways vs. urban examples, US-58 in Virginia near Meadows of Dan carries 1,400 AADT.

I found another 4-lane divided highway with a lower count in Virginia.

When I-95 was constructed through central Virginia, it took over most of pre-existing 4-lane US-301, reducing it to a 2-lane frontage road. In a couple areas however, I-95 diverged onto new alignment and the old 4-lane road was left in place. South of Carson, VA, where I-95 diverges to bypass the town and US-301 expands to its original 4-lane section, it carries only 780 AADT.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0330426,-77.3872236,3089m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1

[jakeroot]

I found another 4-lane divided highway with a lower count in Virginia.

When I-95 was constructed through central Virginia, it took over most of pre-existing 4-lane US-301, reducing it to a 2-lane frontage road. In a couple areas however, I-95 diverged onto new alignment and the old 4-lane road was left in place. South of Carson, VA, where I-95 diverges to bypass the town and US-301 expands to its original 4-lane section, it carries only 780 AADT.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0330426,-77.3872236,3089m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1

I don't think it's possible to beat this example. Well found.

[Truvelo]

This road in Scotland was one of the main routes to England before being replaced in 1986. It's quiet now but I don't think it beats the US-301 example above. Since the Google image was taken this section has been reduced to two lanes with the side the camera is on now a cycle trail. Before this the striping had worn off, adding to the dilapidated feel of the road.

https://goo.gl/maps/jk5PXHwxaSWQFihR6