Stretches of Highway That Are Difficult to Clinch for Your Travel Patterns

[JayhawkCO]

For me, it would be I-225. I live in Northern Colorado, and I hardly ever travel east on I-70, so I just see no reason to be on I-225 at all.

Maaaaybe if I-25 is really backed up around Thornton, you're heading south, don't feel like paying ALL of the exorbitant tolls on E-470, you could do something like I-25->E-470->Pena Blvd->I-225->I-25.  Otherwise, yeah, not a real reason for you ever to be on it.

Chris

I just thought about that, but it was more along the lines of if downtown Denver was packed up and taking I-270 to I-70 to I-225.

I-270 sucks just as much suck, if not more, than I-25 downtown at all times.

Chris

Quality or routing?

Yes.

Specifically, road quality, scenery (industrial area of the metro), and traffic (always busy, always accidents, and a ton of semis because of that industry).

Chris

[7/8]

Some examples for me:
- Ontario Highway 4 through London. I actually clinched this a few summers ago as a day trip, but the routing changed through the City, so now I'll have to do it again. It isn't useful for me since the road goes N-S and is probably slow through the City.
- Ontario Highways 41, 60, 127 would be tough clinches since they all go N-S in a region east of me.
- Ontario Highway 17 and 417 from Sudbury to Quebec. Mostly untravelled due to the E-W alignment. I've made it to Pembroke and Ottawa, but both are faster to get to from perpendicular highways (Highway 60 and the 416 respectively).
- I-86 (NY) between I-90 and I-390. Except for a short portion around Salamanca, I haven't been on the rest of this section due to the E-W alignment. I've crossed the highway numerous times at I-90, US 219, and I-390.
- I-75 from Detroit to Flint. Point north of Flint are faster to reach by I-69 from Port Huron/Sarnia, and points south and west of Detroit are faster via the tunnel or Ambassador Bridge.
- I-79 from US 19 in Sutton, WV to its southern terminus. As far as I know, I've never been down that way since US 19 to Beckley is faster and saves on tolls.

[Konza]

Highways that are circumferential around your home region will, in general, be less likely to make it into your highway mileage. 

This logic nails it for me.  Any stretch of highway that is perpendicular to a direct route from your origin is one you are less likely to drive, mostly because there is probably a more direct route to almost anywhere you're headed.

For me, at my current location, considering Interstate Highways only, the best example is probably most of I-40 west of Albuquerque.  The far south end of I-25 (south of Hatch) qualifies as well, as does I-15 south of Las Vegas.  Even closer to home, unless the destination is along it, and even though it's the second closest Interstate route to where I live, I don't very often travel I-19.

[achilles765]

I think for me I-49 between Lafayette and Shreveport is a perfect example for this thread. If I need to go to NE Louisiana for any reason, I'll take US 59 or even US 96 to get there.

Yeah if heading that direction from Houston, this route makes much more sense than I 49, especially because it would mean essentially backtracking since 49 is fairly diagonal from Lafayette to Shreveport. It's also boring as hell. 

[JayhawkCO]

When I posted the OP, I kind of forgot about one that is far closer to my house.  There's really no reason for me to ever drive I-80 between Cheyenne and Big Springs since I would always take I-76.

Chris

[US 89]

From Salt Lake, the top answer would probably be I-86. Unless your destination is actually in American Falls itself, there's really no reason you would ever take 86 at all since you'd just use 84 to the west end or 15 to the east. A lot of I-40 in the Arizona area would also be up there - particularly the parts west of Kingman, between the eastern US 93 junction and Ash Fork, and between Flagstaff and Gallup except for maybe the US 191 overlap. The majority of logical trips involving Utah in this area would probably focus on US 93, SR 89, SR 64, US 180, I-17, and/or US 89.

I've clinched 86, but only because it's not that far and I was able to make a day trip out of it. On the other hand, I only have 40 between Williams and Flagstaff.