Natural Clinches You Somehow Avoided

[I-55]

There are some roads in the US that are impossible to drive and not clinch (I-865, I-381, etc.). Then there are roads that by nature should be clinched by 99% of people who've driven them.

What roads have you driven that are supposed to be naturally clinched, but you haven't clinched yet for whatever reason?

My example is I-359 in Alabama. Most drivers drive the entire two mile route from I-20/59 or Skyland Blvd to where it dumps out into Lurleen B Wallace Blvd. I have driven on I-359, but I only drove from Skyland to I-20/59 (I-359's MMs count down to the stoplight at AL-69 and US-11). I have been a passenger on the entire route, but I'm only counting stretches in the driver's seat. I can think of a few more off the top of my head that could fit this but I haven't personally driven them.

[Rothman]

Perhaps I-110 in LA?  Only clinched half of it or so.

[Max Rockatansky]

I never got around to finishing FL 528 despite living two miles from it.  Whenever I used it eastbound I would split off to another highway like I-95, FL 520, and US 1. 

[NWI_Irish96]

I managed to not clinch IN 520 until about 20 years after first driving on it.

[kphoger]

Boy, I'm coming up empty on this one.  My only submission is questionable:

I drove to Wichita from Alva (OK) last year using K-2, but I did not clinch the route.  Most people, I think, would have.  But I used this route, which bypassed the westernmost 4½ miles of K-2.

[Scott5114]

Boy, I'm coming up empty on this one.  My only submission is questionable:

I drove to Wichita from Alva (OK) last year using K-2, but I did not clinch the route.  Most people, I think, would have.  But I used this route, which bypassed the westernmost 4½ miles of K-2.

On the other hand, you clinched K-8 in about the most natural way possible. If you had somehow turned off of K-8 at some point there, I think that'd be a textbook example of what the thread is looking for.

[1995hoo]

I construe the idea of a "natural clinch" as described by the OP as meaning that the normal and natural route traffic would take would be to drive the entire length of the road and that it would be unusual to miss part of it. Thus, a road like I-195 in Richmond wouldn't necessarily count because it's equally natural, or possibly more natural, to continue straight ahead onto the Powhite Parkway (VA-76), as I did on our most recent car trip* through there, instead of hooking around to the east. (*I say "car trip" because I've actually travelled down the median of I-195 on the Auto Train more often than I've driven on any segment of that road. My travels in Richmond usually take me downtown via I-95.) Also, a road like VA-207 wouldn't count either in my mind because of that stub piece west of I-95–it's extremely natural for most traffic to exit VA-207 onto I-95, especially southbound, or for northbound traffic to come from I-95, as VA-207 is a connector to US-301 and the logical route from I-95 to the Gov. Harry Nice Bridge to Maryland (an oft-cited eastern bypass route for the DC area).

Therefore, the one that readily comes to mind for me is Ontario Route 416. I'm missing approximately one mile at the southern end. The natural routing there is just to follow the ramp to westbound 401, and in fact the last time I was on that road we were headed home from Ottawa and I took 401 to the Thousand Islands Bridge. But I didn't follow that ramp. My sat-nav wanted me to take the exit to the left as though I were headed over the toll bridge to Ogdensburg, New York, and then exit right onto westbound 401, so I decided just to do that to see if there was some reason why it wanted me to do that (if there was, I couldn't discern what it was). So I'm now missing that tiny piece of Route 416 and we don't have any plans to be in Ottawa any time soon, even if the border weren't closed. If we head back to Ontario, I think we want to head back to Toronto since our visit last summer got cut short when we learned my father had been given a terminal diagnosis and we headed for home within two hours.

[skluth]

It may be quite the OP definition, but I've clinched all of I-80 except between I-74 and I-180 in Illinois. I grew up in Green Bay and my career was mostly in St Louis, so I never had a need to travel it. The only reason I was on I-180 was my uncle moved to Chillicothe when I was 10. We took I-180 back when it first opened, but never did cross the Illinois River bridge because we would head south on IL 29. So I guess that's a close but didn't complete normal clinch too.

My family never knew I-180 was pork barrel project for a business. We all thought it was the start of a freeway along the west side of the river to Peoria connecting I-80 to I-74. This was before I-39, so there was no North/ south freeway in the triangle created by I-80, I-74, and I-55.

[texaskdog]

I just clinched I-180 in Wyoming lol

[Eth]

My best example is probably the Texas portion of US 75. I'm missing about 4 or 5 miles of it near I-635 due to the location of the hotel I was staying at; the best way to get in and out involved not using that part of the freeway.

[paulthemapguy]

IL147 is a brief shortcut road from IL145 to IL146 with no intermediate intersections with any other highways, but I only have a clinch of it west of Trigg Tower Road.  That's because it just happened to be part of my random zigzag through the Shawnee National Forest a couple years ago.

[JayhawkCO]

I guess the only one I can think of is CO-196.  It's only a 9 mile little highway, and according to Travel Mapping, I've done 77% of it, but in reality, I only drove about a half a mile of it from its intersection with US287 to hit the Bent County line to clinch that and then turned around and headed back to US287.  There's only two intersections listed on the Travel Mapping site, so I picked the closest one.  I gotta think for most "clinchers", if you're starting down that road, you're going to finish it.

Chris

[ftballfan]

The closest to me would be missing US-23 between US-30 near Upper Sandusky and OH 4 near Marion. I clinched 23 in OH north of Upper Sandusky (including the stretch through Fostoria) while on my way to a basketball game in Ashland, OH. I was on 23 from I-270 on the north end of Columbus to Marion after an interview in Columbus last year, but instead of continuing on 23 north, I turned off onto OH 4 toward Sandusky.

Another example would be missing US-127 between US-10 and M-55, which is the only stretch of 127 I'm missing north of Fayette, OH.

[Flint1979]

M-222 seems simple enough to clinch running between Allegan and US-131. Well I only have about 5 miles of it clinched which is half the route.

[kphoger]

IL147 is a brief shortcut road from IL145 to IL146 with no intermediate intersections with any other highways, but I only have a clinch of it west of Trigg Tower Road.  That's because it just happened to be part of my random zigzag through the Shawnee National Forest a couple years ago.

Man, I've been trying to think of one in southern Illinois.  I don't remember if I've ever been on IL-147 but, if I have, it wasn't the whole thing.  I never used the highway during my days as a delivery driver, but my wife and I did go to a small outdoor music concert/competition somewhere around there back in 2007 and I can't remember the exact location now.

[ethanhopkin14]

I-30 west of Ft Worth.  I never had a reason to go from the western I-30/I-820 intersection west to where it defaults onto I-20, always because when in the Metroplex I had other things to do other than ride out the desolate stretch of I-30, and it's only useful if you are heading west onto I-20.  Living in Austin, I never had a reason to head that way, until one day I drove it just to clinch it.  Natural for folks heading west, but out of the way for me. 

[Rothman]

Heh.  The only part of I-30 I haven't clinched was when I got off to step into Collin County, TX.  Missed a short distance between sequential exits.

[kenarmy]

I've been on 459 nearly every time I go to Birmingham, but I never have traveled further north than the interchange with US 280. It'll be a while before I can even attempt to clinch it now.
And strangely, I've never been on US 45. I only use its former routing in Meridian occasionally.

[ran4sh]

I don't think I have any avoided natural clinches.

I do have some situations like, I have all of I-20 clinched except for the part in Birmingham bypassed by I-459 and west of US 78 (because I used I-459 instead of staying on I-20).

I-395 in DC would be a natural clinch if the mainline actually directed traffic to the tunnel instead of to (what is now) I-695. It's an exit instead of the mainline, which I wouldn't have missed if I were driving, but the person who was, didn't understand that.

[kphoger]

Not quite a clinch, because I've never driven the northernmost 76 miles, but...

I'm pretty sure I've driven all of I-35 south of Hinkley, MN (including all of I-35W through Fort Worth and either I-35E or I-35W through the Twin Cities, but I can't remember which of the latter two I've clinched).  Except for the southernmost 3½ miles.  Yep, I've never driven between the Mall del Norte and the Mexican border, despite having used I-35 on trips to and from Mexico multiple times.  This is because I've never actually used either of the two downtown Laredo border crossings (since I was like nine years old anyway):  when going that route, I've always crossed at Colombia instead.

So, between Hinkley (MN) and its southern terminus, I've driven 99.8% of I-35.

[Scott5114]

That would bother the hell out of me. I was just looking at Laredo on GSV last night, and I-35 stops short of the border by a few blocks, so...maybe on your next trip through the area, you could detour, hang a U turn after I-35 ends, and go back to your usual crossing at the Colombia bridge?

Obviously, you have kids and other drivers and all of that to consider, but it'd probably be about a ten minute delay, so if you communicate to the other drivers that you'll catch up to them in about 10 minutes (or plan a food stop that you can disappear from for a while), maybe it's doable. Or maybe it would be easier to contrive a reason to use the Juarez-Lincoln bridge.

[SkyPesos]

I have been on all of I-270 in MD except the section between I-270 Spur and I-495, since I used the Spur.

[CoreySamson]

The only one I can think of is NASA Road 1, as it's easier to use FM 528 and go through downtown Webster to get from my house to NASA whenever I visit.

[deathtopumpkins]

Not sure if this is exacctly what the OP had in mind, but looking at anywhere I have a small gap yields some possible examples:

NJ I-280 - missing the last half mile from exiting onto Newark Tpk instead of the NJTP.
NC I-85 - missing from exit 215 to exit 233 due to detouring around congestion - that stretch was under construction the entire time my sister lived in Durham and was always jammed.
NC US 501 - missing 4 miles north of Roxboro that has since been realigned.
OK I-40 - been on all of 40 from New Mexico to North Carolina, except between I-35 and Peebly Rd because my co-pilot was very adamant that we avoid Oklahoma City because it's "a traffic nightmare" (???). We detoured down to SH 9 and stopped by family in Norman.
OK US 75 - missing between I-44 and I-244 because it was closed for construction at the time.
TX US 84 - missing through Lubbock because I opted for Loop 289 instead.
CA US 101 - took the Avenue of the Giants for a bit instead of 101.
ID I-84 - Looped through Boise on I-184 and US 20/26 to grab dinner.
IL I-80 - been on all of I-80 from Nebraska to New Jersey except between I-294 and I-57 because my in-laws live south of there and usually warrant a stop.
OH US 20 - been on 20 from South Bend, IN to Elyria, OH, except between I-475 and I-75 to avoid going through Maumee/Perrysburg.
MD I-70 - missing between exit 26 and exit 32 as a result of going from 81 NB to 70 WB but cutting the corner from 70 WB to 81 NB via US 40 and US 11.
MD I-695 - missing between I-95 (south) and MD 168 - north of I-95 I use sometimes to avoid the tolls, south of MD 168 was part of the Baltimore road meet a while back and a previous trip over the Key Bridge.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I-70 in Utah. Mom got off for gas in Cove Fort, saw I-15 right next to the gas station, missed the last mile.