Most possible crossings of one state line in one trip

[Ketchup99]

So, I'm going crazy. I tested positive for Covid on Sunday and my university has had me quarantined, and justifiably so, since then. I have taken almost complete leave of my faculties, and in doing so, stumbled across an interesting question:

What's the most times you can cross one state line, in one trip, while making sure you follow the shortest possible trip, per Google Maps, between your origin and destination? If there's a tie, the winner will be the route with the shortest possible travel time.

The best I've been able to come up with is ten - on the three-hour, four-minute jaunt between Nowhere, NH and Somewhere, NH. It crosses the Maine border five times in quick succession, spends about two hours in Maine, and then jumps back and forth five more times to end up in some random marina in some random town whose name I do not know in southern New Hampshire. It's here:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.0195804,-71.0602149/43.6185573,-70.975724/@43.9253179,-71.3630684,8.72z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

Can anyone beat ten - or find an example that gets ten in a shorter time?

[michravera]

So, I'm going crazy. I tested positive for Covid on Sunday and my university has had me quarantined, and justifiably so, since then. I have taken almost complete leave of my faculties, and in doing so, stumbled across an interesting question:

What's the most times you can cross one state line, in one trip, while making sure you follow the shortest possible trip, per Google Maps, between your origin and destination? If there's a tie, the winner will be the route with the shortest possible travel time.

The best I've been able to come up with is ten - on the three-hour, four-minute jaunt between Nowhere, NH and Somewhere, NH. It crosses the Maine border five times in quick succession, spends about two hours in Maine, and then jumps back and forth five more times to end up in some random marina in some random town whose name I do not know in southern New Hampshire. It's here:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.0195804,-71.0602149/43.6185573,-70.975724/@43.9253179,-71.3630684,8.72z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

Can anyone beat ten - or find an example that gets ten in a shorter time?

Someone will likely do legitimately better, but, I will bet that I crossed the CA-NV state line on State Line Ave at least a dozen times on a 10 minute drunk stagger from Harrah's to my friend's hotel room. There are at least 3 roads in different areas that straddle or snake the state line  between California and Nevada. Many of those roads were created to benefit the gaming industry. If I am not mistaken, a trip along either the Smith or Columbia rivers will get you in and out of Oregon a few dozen times in a relatively short distance. I know that US-199 goes snakes between California and Oregon and US-95 goes between California, Arizona, and Nevada. I am sure that there are numerous "State Line Road"s between at least some of the Plains States. ... and who knows what kind of possibilities exist where state boundaries have stayed the same despite rivers that have changed course.

On the The Friendly Island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, a full circuit of the coast road around entre island usually takes something less than 45 minutes. You can do a little better, if you stay on the road that avoids (as in doesn't go through "downtown") Phillipsburg and Marigot and avoid the draw bridge and stay inside the Salt Pond rather than hugging the coast the entire way. Each circuit would cross the frontier at least twice. So, if you started a few meters from the boundary monument and kept it moving, you could get 10 frontiers in about 2:30 and have travelled a bit over 100 km (the highest posted speed limit on the island back in the early noughties was 90 km/hr near the airport. You have trouble going much over 50 km/hr for a lot of the trip.). There would be no deliberate backtracking, but you would repeat several circuits of the same road!

[Scott5114]

I am sure that there are numerous "State Line Road"s between at least some of the Plains States. ...

The most famous of these being State Line Road between Kansas City KS and MO, and State Line Avenue between Texarkana TX and AR. However, both of these are basically straight, so there's little opportunity for multiple crossings while remaining on the most direct itinerary.

[Bruce]

I crossed the WA/ID border 14 times in a single day during my clinchathon road trip a few months ago. Got all the crossings between Southway Bridge in Clarkston and WA 278/ID 58 near Rockford.

[Rothman]

I crossed every bridge between OH and WV on a trip with my kids, but that's not nearly as many crossings as have been mentioned by others elsewhere.

[Flint1979]

I crossed every bridge between OH and WV on a trip with my kids, but that's not nearly as many crossings as have been mentioned by others elsewhere.

I did that last summer coming back from Pittsburgh when I was county clinching the rest of Ohio and trying to get all of the West Virginia panhandle which I was able to do.

[1995hoo]

Hard to tell how many times you'd cross the Virginia—West Virginia state line following this route here, but it looks like a heck of a lot because the road appears to go back and forth across the state line–the directions only list five crossings, but zooming on the map suggests there are more than that (I'm sure they're not all signed). I've construed the OP's reference to the "shortest route" as meaning "shortest distance." Google actually recommended the 43-minute route that's two minutes quicker but 1.7 miles longer.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.2352368,-81.7417302/37.3325047,-81.8977091/@37.2885539,-81.8649871,13z/data=!4m3!4m2!3e0!5i1

[NWI_Irish96]

In a one-way trip to one of my doctors, i cross the IL-IN line 4 times over 7 miles. Three times by car and once on foot.

[webny99]

The best I've been able to come up with is ten - on the three-hour, four-minute jaunt between Nowhere, NH and Somewhere, NH. It crosses the Maine border five times in quick succession, spends about two hours in Maine, and then jumps back and forth five more times to end up in some random marina in some random town whose name I do not know in southern New Hampshire. It's here:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.0195804,-71.0602149/43.6185573,-70.975724/@43.9253179,-71.3630684,8.72z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

Can anyone beat ten - or find an example that gets ten in a shorter time?

Couldn't you actually get up to 14 crossings if you take River St, E Conway Rd, and then W Fryeburg Rd north out of Fryeburg?

(Oh darn... looks like part of that route is closed winters, but you could do it in the summer, anyway!)

[CNGL-Leudimin]

The best places to search for this are where the borders aren't straight as an arrow. Thus, forget your country and head over to Europe. One of my favorite roads is along the short Aragon/Rioja border in Spain, which changes communities 5 times in just 3.5 miles, including all three paved crossings of the mentioned line.

[webny99]

I crossed every bridge between OH and WV on a trip with my kids, but that's not nearly as many crossings as have been mentioned by others elsewhere.

I did that last summer coming back from Pittsburgh when I was county clinching the rest of Ohio and trying to get all of the West Virginia panhandle which I was able to do.

There appears to be 20 bridges of the Ohio River between WV and OH currently open to vehicles, with a 21st (Wellsburg) set to open this year. If you really did cross all 20, I'd consider that quite an accomplishment.

[Rothman]

I crossed every bridge between OH and WV on a trip with my kids, but that's not nearly as many crossings as have been mentioned by others elsewhere.

I did that last summer coming back from Pittsburgh when I was county clinching the rest of Ohio and trying to get all of the West Virginia panhandle which I was able to do.

There appears to be 20 bridges of the Ohio River between WV and OH currently open to vehicles, with a 21st (Wellsburg) set to open this year. If you really did cross all 20, I'd consider that quite an accomplishment.

Ah, I spoke too soon.  All bridges from I-77 north to Wheeling.  So, I think that's only five or six.

[froggie]

So, I'm going crazy. I tested positive for Covid on Sunday and my university has had me quarantined, and justifiably so, since then. I have taken almost complete leave of my faculties, and in doing so, stumbled across an interesting question:

What's the most times you can cross one state line, in one trip, while making sure you follow the shortest possible trip, per Google Maps, between your origin and destination? If there's a tie, the winner will be the route with the shortest possible travel time.

The best I've been able to come up with is ten - on the three-hour, four-minute jaunt between Nowhere, NH and Somewhere, NH. It crosses the Maine border five times in quick succession, spends about two hours in Maine, and then jumps back and forth five more times to end up in some random marina in some random town whose name I do not know in southern New Hampshire. It's here:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.0195804,-71.0602149/43.6185573,-70.975724/@43.9253179,-71.3630684,8.72z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

Can anyone beat ten - or find an example that gets ten in a shorter time?

You could have increased your "10 example" to 14 by taking US 2 over to ME 113 then taken that down to Fryeburg.

[webny99]

...
Can anyone beat ten - or find an example that gets ten in a shorter time?

You could have increased your "10 example" to 14 by taking US 2 over to ME 113 then taken that down to Fryeburg.

That's what I suggested in reply #8. It turns out part of that route is closed winters, but it could be done the rest of the year.

[Dirt Roads]

Hard to tell how many times you'd cross the Virginia—West Virginia state line following this route here, but it looks like a heck of a lot because the road appears to go back and forth across the state line–the directions only list five crossings, but zooming on the map suggests there are more than that (I'm sure they're not all signed). I've construed the OP's reference to the "shortest route" as meaning "shortest distance." Google actually recommended the 43-minute route that's two minutes quicker but 1.7 miles longer.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.2352368,-81.7417302/37.3325047,-81.8977091/@37.2885539,-81.8649871,13z/data=!4m3!4m2!3e0!5i1

This one's been on my bucket list for some time now.  But alas, my bucket has already run dry.  I'll leave it to someone more spry than I am.

[Dirt Roads]

There appears to be 20 bridges of the Ohio River between WV and OH currently open to vehicles, with a 21st (Wellsburg) set to open this year. If you really did cross all 20, I'd consider that quite an accomplishment.

I crossed several in one trip between Huntington and Weirton in an attempt to clinch sections of WV-2, OH-7, WV-7 and US-22:

     WV-106 East Huntington Bridge
     US-35 New Silver Bridge
     WV-7 New Martinsville Bridge
     US-22 Veterans Memorial Bridge (Weirton-Steubenville)

That's not the most times that I've crossed the Ohio in one day, but those other trips crossed into several different states.