Consistently Least Scenic Highway in your state

[silverback1065]

We had a thread for most scenic, but how about least scenic:

For Indiana it has to be IN 16.

It's 105 miles long.

The largest town it travels through has a population of 1,777.

It crosses one interstate but doesn't have an interchange.

There is one river crossing, the Tippecanoe River at Buffalo, that can be considered to be scenic in the broadest sense of the word. I guess if you're really desperate, the Eel River crossing can be seen as somewhat scenic.

The east terminus is 2 miles from the edge of the Huntington retail corridor, which is by far the closest the highway comes to any type of retail center.

There are no elevation changes to speak of, no winding through wooded areas or along rivers. Pretty much just corn and soybean fields.

I know there are plenty of very boring stretches of road, but for a road to be over 100 miles long and not have anything at all is something.

SR 16 is a strange state road, it really doesn't serve any purpose at all.

[vdeane]

People are confusing "least scenic" and "boring". They're not synonyms. Sure, corn fields are boring... but they're certainly more scenic than suburbia and strip malls. I'm surprised more people haven't been mentioning strictly urban/suburban routes. Those seem like the obvious answers.

I think my nominations for NY would be NY 324, NY 252, and... NY 635?

A cornfield may be slightly more scenic than a strip mall, but part of the point of "consistently" was to eliminate shorter urban/suburban routes. By default, the shortest routes are the least scenic, but it's harder to put together a route over 100 miles that lacks scenery. Maybe in NY you have longer routes that are nothing but strip malls but those routes don't exist in Indiana.

You might want to specifically specify that.  "Consistently" to me implies uniformity but says nothing about length.

[Flint1979]

We had a thread for most scenic, but how about least scenic:

For Indiana it has to be IN 16.

It's 105 miles long.

The largest town it travels through has a population of 1,777.

It crosses one interstate but doesn't have an interchange.

There is one river crossing, the Tippecanoe River at Buffalo, that can be considered to be scenic in the broadest sense of the word. I guess if you're really desperate, the Eel River crossing can be seen as somewhat scenic.

The east terminus is 2 miles from the edge of the Huntington retail corridor, which is by far the closest the highway comes to any type of retail center.

There are no elevation changes to speak of, no winding through wooded areas or along rivers. Pretty much just corn and soybean fields.

I know there are plenty of very boring stretches of road, but for a road to be over 100 miles long and not have anything at all is something.

SR 16 is a strange state road, it really doesn't serve any purpose at all.

I think I've been on that road before doesn't it run past a landfill that comes up next to the road? I always thought IN-47 was a highway that serves little purpose.

[Flint1979]

Indiana has very few sections of state roads that have strip mall after strip mall along them. Most of the state roads in Indiana are in rural areas and there are several discontinuous state roads with some broke up simply by a city because INDOT feels that the cities should have control of their streets and not them like IN-25 around Lafayette.

[NWI_Irish96]

We had a thread for most scenic, but how about least scenic:

For Indiana it has to be IN 16.

It's 105 miles long.

The largest town it travels through has a population of 1,777.

It crosses one interstate but doesn't have an interchange.

There is one river crossing, the Tippecanoe River at Buffalo, that can be considered to be scenic in the broadest sense of the word. I guess if you're really desperate, the Eel River crossing can be seen as somewhat scenic.

The east terminus is 2 miles from the edge of the Huntington retail corridor, which is by far the closest the highway comes to any type of retail center.

There are no elevation changes to speak of, no winding through wooded areas or along rivers. Pretty much just corn and soybean fields.

I know there are plenty of very boring stretches of road, but for a road to be over 100 miles long and not have anything at all is something.

SR 16 is a strange state road, it really doesn't serve any purpose at all.

I think I've been on that road before doesn't it run past a landfill that comes up next to the road? I always thought IN-47 was a highway that serves little purpose.

The western section of IN 47 services one of the busiest state parks, Turkey Run, and also services Wabash College in Crawfordsville.

[Flint1979]

We had a thread for most scenic, but how about least scenic:

For Indiana it has to be IN 16.

It's 105 miles long.

The largest town it travels through has a population of 1,777.

It crosses one interstate but doesn't have an interchange.

There is one river crossing, the Tippecanoe River at Buffalo, that can be considered to be scenic in the broadest sense of the word. I guess if you're really desperate, the Eel River crossing can be seen as somewhat scenic.

The east terminus is 2 miles from the edge of the Huntington retail corridor, which is by far the closest the highway comes to any type of retail center.

There are no elevation changes to speak of, no winding through wooded areas or along rivers. Pretty much just corn and soybean fields.

I know there are plenty of very boring stretches of road, but for a road to be over 100 miles long and not have anything at all is something.

SR 16 is a strange state road, it really doesn't serve any purpose at all.

I think I've been on that road before doesn't it run past a landfill that comes up next to the road? I always thought IN-47 was a highway that serves little purpose.

The western section of IN 47 services one of the busiest state parks, Turkey Run, and also services Wabash College in Crawfordsville.

It's just weird being on an east-west highway in Indiana with an odd number and it's signed north-south too when it goes mostly east-west. Outside of the western end I don't think it needs to go all the way to Sheridan.

[tq-07fan]

Ohio
OH 235

[sparker]

Max already cited CA 137 as a good candidate for this dubious "award".  I'd double down on that, plus pretty much any flatland connector in the Valley:  CA 184, definitely CA 204, CA 233, CA 219 (which will likely be supplanted by the CA 108 North Modesto bypass shortly), and the longest of the bunch, CA 165.  More urban candidates would be the little that's left of CA 19, CA 83, CA 107, CA 123, and CA 262.  I'd include CA 47 except for the views from the Vincent Thomas Bridge as well as CA 61, which would make the list except for the historic old houses along its length in Alameda.  OK, CA 112 gets on the list too, along with neighbor CA 185; nothing of import to see there.  In essence, all these surface facilities are strictly utilitarian in nature as per their function; not a lot to attract folks on their own.

[TheOneKEA]

Here are the routes I'd pick for Maryland:

- US 301 between Queenstown and the DE state line. Flat, mostly straight, with nothing to see except trees and cornfields.
- US 40 northeast of Baltimore. Straight, heavily built up in many areas and surrounded by trees and cornfields in less built up areas. The only spot where anything remotely scenic could be found is a rest area on the eastbound side near the Bush River.
- MD 144 between MD 27 and US 40. Mostly straight and built up throughout its length, with cornfields surrounding it everywhere else. (A lot of MD farms grow corn every year!)

[kernals12]

MA 9. Car dealerships, strip malls, and office buildings for miles and miles. I'm sure anyone from New Jersey will feel at home on it.

[Max Rockatansky]

Max already cited CA 137 as a good candidate for this dubious "award".  I'd double down on that, plus pretty much any flatland connector in the Valley:  CA 184, definitely CA 204, CA 233, CA 219 (which will likely be supplanted by the CA 108 North Modesto bypass shortly), and the longest of the bunch, CA 165.  More urban candidates would be the little that's left of CA 19, CA 83, CA 107, CA 123, and CA 262.  I'd include CA 47 except for the views from the Vincent Thomas Bridge as well as CA 61, which would make the list except for the historic old houses along its length in Alameda.  OK, CA 112 gets on the list too, along with neighbor CA 185; nothing of import to see there.  In essence, all these surface facilities are strictly utilitarian in nature as per their function; not a lot to attract folks on their own.

The most interesting two flat land Valley Routes I've found are 43 and 45.  43 has some fantastic rail fanning that can be done, especially around the ghost town of Allensworth.  45 follows the Sacramento River through some quaint towns and probably has the best State Highway view of the Sutter Buttes.  I would probably rate 201 and 216 lower if they didn't have fantastic views looking East at the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

[ftballfan]

Michigan:
M-17. The eastern half is full of abandoned businesses, while its western terminus is home to what might be the worst freeway-to-surface road interchange in Michigan

[noelbotevera]

US 13:

"Wanna see some suburban arterials?"
"Wanna see more?"

And it isn't even the fastest route...anywhere. You'd have better chances on US 1 or I-95 considering both are freeways for sizeable distances.

[Gnutella]

In Georgia, I'd say U.S. 80. It's pretty much hills and trees the whole way across Georgia until you get east of Statesboro, when it becomes sand and trees.

As opposed to the absolute bore which is I-16?  Personally I like US 80 on Tybee Island and at least it has some actual communities to offer.  There is absolutely nothing of interest on I-16. 

I considered I-16, but U.S. 80 is longer.

[Max Rockatansky]

In Georgia, I'd say U.S. 80. It's pretty much hills and trees the whole way across Georgia until you get east of Statesboro, when it becomes sand and trees.

As opposed to the absolute bore which is I-16?  Personally I like US 80 on Tybee Island and at least it has some actual communities to offer.  There is absolutely nothing of interest on I-16. 

I considered I-16, but U.S. 80 is longer.

But US 80 "does"  have scenery, I-16 has none.  By default that makes I-16 consistently less scenic than US 80.  I would put I-95 right up there with I-16 in regards to Georgia, there is nothing to look at there either. 

[US 89]

In Georgia, I'd say U.S. 80. It's pretty much hills and trees the whole way across Georgia until you get east of Statesboro, when it becomes sand and trees.

As opposed to the absolute bore which is I-16?  Personally I like US 80 on Tybee Island and at least it has some actual communities to offer.  There is absolutely nothing of interest on I-16. 

I considered I-16, but U.S. 80 is longer.

But US 80 "does"  have scenery, I-16 has none.  By default that makes I-16 consistently less scenic than US 80.  I would put I-95 right up there with I-16 in regards to Georgia, there is nothing to look at there either.

95 at least has a few decent length bridges over rivers every so often.

[Max Rockatansky]

In Georgia, I'd say U.S. 80. It's pretty much hills and trees the whole way across Georgia until you get east of Statesboro, when it becomes sand and trees.

As opposed to the absolute bore which is I-16?  Personally I like US 80 on Tybee Island and at least it has some actual communities to offer.  There is absolutely nothing of interest on I-16. 

I considered I-16, but U.S. 80 is longer.

But US 80 "does"  have scenery, I-16 has none.  By default that makes I-16 consistently less scenic than US 80.  I would put I-95 right up there with I-16 in regards to Georgia, there is nothing to look at there either.

95 at least has a few decent length bridges over rivers every so often.

If you look close the Sidney Lanier Bridge can be seen from the northbound lanes approaching Blythe Island.

[SectorZ]

MA 9. Car dealerships, strip malls, and office buildings for miles and miles. I'm sure anyone from New Jersey will feel at home on it.

I take it you've never bothered driving west of Worcester on it? Go west of I-91 to Pittsfield and claim it's the least scenic in the state.

[Rothman]

MA 9. Car dealerships, strip malls, and office buildings for miles and miles. I'm sure anyone from New Jersey will feel at home on it.

I take it you've never bothered driving west of Worcester on it? Go west of I-91 to Pittsfield and claim it's the least scenic in the state.

Have to agree.  One of the routes solely in the Boston area would be a lot worse.

[Flint1979]

I'm in Indiana right now doing some County clinching and somehow ended up on SR-16. On top of it being not scenic at all it has a pointless concurrency with SR-119.