Longest driven off interstate or freeway

[roadman]

Wilmington DE to Norfolk VA via US 13 (Eastern Shore) - back before it was four-laned and before Toll Route 1 opened.  Approximately 240 miles.  And there used to be a place where two distance signs spaced several miles apart showed the same distance to Norfolk.

[Sanctimoniously]

I-10 at US 69/96/287 in Beaumont, Texas to I-20 at Greenwood, LA, via US 96, 59, and 79: 191 miles.
NC 24 at I-95 near Fayetteville, NC to Camp Lejeune, NC, via NC 24 (although there is an overlap with I-40), 105 miles.
US 58 at I-95 at Emporia, VA to I-264 at Bowers Hill, Chesapeake, VA, 56 miles.

I guess Texas wins. I thought the other two were significantly longer than that.

[DandyDan]

It's hard to determine exactly what my longest trip off a freeway is, because sometimes, expressways turn into freeways without you really noticing it.  I did once drive from Altoona, Iowa to DeKalb, IL using US 65, IA 330, US 30 (with a side trip to the Lincoln Highway Bridge), US 151 Business through Cedar Rapids, US 151, IA-IL 64 and (Annie) Glidden Road into DeKalb.  Not sure how many miles that is.

[jp the roadgeek]

Edgewood, MD to Brewster, NY.  US 40, MD 152, US 1, US 202, PA 611, Portland Toll Bridge, NJ/NY 94, NY 17, US 6, Bear Mountain Parkway, US 6, NY 312.  Decided to jump I-84 the last 50 miles home.  Also did another variation to Newburgh continuing on NY 94 to NY 32. 

[roadfro]

A regular off-Interstate routing for me is the drive between Reno and Las Vegas. 447 miles total trip distance, with about 417 miles being non-Interstate (and about 320 miles being two-lane highway).

Longest other routes I can think of that I've done:

• Reno to Las Vegas (via Carson City, US 395, CA 120 & US 6 back to US 95) was about 450 miles off-Interstate.
  
• Las Vegas to Reno (via US 93, SR 375-Extraterrestrial Hwy & US 6 back to US 95) was also about 450 miles off-Interstate.
  
• Reno to Portland, OR (via Crater Lake and OR 138) was about 420 miles off-Interstate.

[Buck87]

About 700 miles, from leaving I-90 at Buffalo WY to entering I-15 at Bringham City, UT
(via Thermopolis WY, Cody WY, West Yellowstone MT, Jackson WY, Montpelier ID, Logan UT)

Probably more like 800+ miles if you included all the sightseeing driving around Yellowstone NP.

[bassoon1986]

Growing up, the youth in my church took trips most summers from Shreveport, LA to Brownsville, TX. 591 miles total, although there is a tiny blip on I-37 to follow US 77 near Corpus Christi, and some of that highway is now I-69E and I-69, although it wasn't then.

From our church to US77/I-37 in Corpus is 439 miles with no interstate

[Laura]

Edgewood, MD to Brewster, NY.

If you don't mind me asking, what made you start in Edgewood? (I live close to there now and lived there the first 5 years of my life.)

My record is ~375 miles from outside Marion, NC to Colonial Heights, VA (part of a road trip from Asheville, NC). From I-40 to US 221 to US 58 to US 360 to US 460 to US 301 to my friend's street of residence.


iPhone

[golden eagle]

The most I drove was on the Natchez Trace from Jackson to Nashville. It's at least 350 miles.

[Pete from Boston]

About 650 miles, from Merced, Cal., to Interstate 15 near Holden, Utah via CA 140, CA 120, US 6, and US 50 (with a few other roads sprinkled in there).

What was incredible was that east of Yosemite Village (~560 miles) we passed through all of five settled places the whole way, maybe one of which has a traffic light (Ely, Nevada).

It's an amazing and beautiful drive across one of the loneliest parts of this country.

[dgolub]

I've done a batch of drives of 50 miles or so on local roads back on Long Island.  I did Port Washington to Stony Brook many times back when I still was on my permit and hadn't taken the road test.  I took different routes different times, including NY 25, NY 25A, NY 347, and the service road of I-495.

[hbelkins]

Seeing this pop back up reminds me of a few such trips.

For years, when my aunt and uncle lived at Wax, Ky., in Grayson County at a place on Nolin Lake, I would drive the entire route there without using the interstate by following basically KY 52, KY 84, US 31W, KY 224 and KY 479.

I had a week-long class in Blacksburg, Va., about 10 years ago and got there via KY 9000, KY 9009 (  ), KY 114 and US 460.

The second long multi-day road trip I ever took involved non-interstate travel on US 60, US 71 and US 62 in a loop from Sikeston, Mo.

[oscar]

The outbound leg of my "Bad Roads of the Arctic" tour of 2012 included over 4600 miles between when I left the AB 2 freeway north of Red Deer, AB, and my entry into Alaska at AK 2 (paper Interstate A-1).  Add about 900 miles (including substantial side trips) before I reached the freeway portion of Interstate A-1 near Palmer AK.  That took me at least two weeks, and included a major detour to travel all of the Northwest Territories highway system except NT 8 to Inuvik (covered on the return leg). 

The return leg also included a long jaunt off the Interstates/freeway network, about 4000 miles from when I left Interstate A-1 at Tetlin Junction AK to when I reached a freeway portion of Trans-Canada 1 near Kamloops BC.  That also involved major side trips, including the trip to Inuvik NT.  There were a few interchanges along the way on TCH 16 between Tete Juane Cache BC and Jasper AB, but I think that stretch really was expressway at best rather than freeway.

[agentsteel53]

I put in 6000km in northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland without anything more elaborate than a single grade separation in Tromso, 6km into my trip.  hell, I think I put in 3000km between traffic lights!  Tromso to Narvik, the long way.

(most kilometers between grade separations, anyone?)

I think in the US I've stayed off the freeway for only about 1600 miles at a time before taking one for at least an exit or two.  no telling if there were any incidental grade separations, and I'm sure I hit a traffic light or two.

[leroys73]

One trip on the same highway probably US 50 from Newton, KS to Owensville, Ohio.  Or from Owensville, Ohio to the Atlantic on another trip.

Maybe US 66 before I-44 and I-40 were completed.  I'd have to measure each of them to get the longest in one trip.

4 weeks and 7500 miles by car through western US and Canada without interstate travel.  16 days and 5600 miles by motorcycle mostly in the mountain states with maybe 100 miles of interstate at most.

[Sykotyk]

Took a recent trip from Ohio to DFW and back. Was county-clinching both ways and took some extended times off the interstate or freeway in general.

Here's one stretch from near Springfield, IL to Joplin, MO

Google maps has it at 566 miles.
http://goo.gl/maps/ecmGY

Then on the return trip, I went from Springdale, AR off I-540 until eastern Illinois on I-64 near Mill Shoals.

Google maps has it at 731 miles.
http://goo.gl/maps/DMHC2

[Pete from Boston]

Kamloops, B.C., where freeway-like road ends to Yellowknife, N.T., and back.  2000 km each way.  But that might be contrary to the spirit of the question, because I wasn't deliberately avoiding freeways...

In college, bored and carless, I searched the atlas for the most remote place connected by road and resolved to drive to Yellowknife.  Never did it, but at least now I know it's doable.  How was the drive?

[hobsini2]

If I had to guess, it would either be from Amarillo to Colby KS or Spearfish SD to the border crossing north of Williston ND on US 85.

[Rupertus]

Last spring I made a loop around Michigan's Upper Peninsula that was a good 900 miles, over the course of a few days. In fact, on that trip, if not for crossing the Mackinac Bridge twice (I-75), I would have had about 1500 consecutive miles of non-freeway driving, including along the shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Best gas mileage I've ever had.

[Sykotyk]

Last spring I made a loop around Michigan's Upper Peninsula that was a good 900 miles, over the course of a few days. In fact, on that trip, if not for crossing the Mackinac Bridge twice (I-75), I would have had about 1500 consecutive miles of non-freeway driving, including along the shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Best gas mileage I've ever had.

Sounds like fun. Only once ever did I go to Traverse City this past year. Furthest north in Michigan I've been. I do plan on hitting the rest of the counties in the lower peninsula and hopefully all of the UP in one trip (and Wisconsin/Minnesota).

Any favorite locations or route/road anomolies worth checking you that you stumbled upon?

[oscar]

In college, bored and carless, I searched the atlas for the most remote place connected by road and resolved to drive to Yellowknife.  Never did it, but at least now I know it's doable.  How was the drive?

Yellowknife isn't that remote anymore.  You don't even have to leave the pavement to get there, if you go through Alberta. 

For remote, try Inuvik NT (or in a few years Tuktoyaktuk, when the all-season gravel road is extended there), or Deadhorse AK.  Or if you must stay on pavement, Radisson QC at the north end of the James Bay Highway. 

[Rupertus]

Sounds like fun. Only once ever did I go to Traverse City this past year. Furthest north in Michigan I've been. I do plan on hitting the rest of the counties in the lower peninsula and hopefully all of the UP in one trip (and Wisconsin/Minnesota).

Any favorite locations or route/road anomolies worth checking you that you stumbled upon?

There are some old divided highways that are interesting drives: US 2/41 to the north out of Escanaba and US 41/M-28 in Marquette. If you're going to do it properly, though, you'll need to drive all the way up the Keweenaw Peninsula to Copper Harbor, where US 41 ends at a cul-de-sac, and then come back down M-26 along the Lake Superior shoreline. It's spectacular even when cold and rainy, as it was when I made the trip. Along the way you'll encounter the Portage Lake Lift Bridge between Houghton and Hancock, which is likely to be one of the stranger bridges you'll ever drive across. If you haven't crossed the Mackinac Bridge before, that will also be memorable.

[aerules]

I have done US 130 here in New Jersey a few times.  Have also taken 9 instead of the Parkway from Cape May up to Newark, as well as 1

[leroys73]

Last spring I made a loop around Michigan's Upper Peninsula that was a good 900 miles, over the course of a few days. In fact, on that trip, if not for crossing the Mackinac Bridge twice (I-75), I would have had about 1500 consecutive miles of non-freeway driving, including along the shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Best gas mileage I've ever had.

The UP is great.  I think I could spend all summer driving around up there.  Wife, daughter, granddaughter and I did a trip around the UP last summer.  I looped Lake Superior by motorcycle the year before. Wife used to camp the UP when she was a kid in the Detroit area.

[bzakharin]

If we count non-Interstate freeways, my daily commute is 60 miles. The regular route has 49 miles after leaving I-295 via NJ 42, AC Expressway, and GS Parkway. The alternate route is 52 miles total, no interstates at all via NJ 70, NJ 73, AC  Expressway and GS Parkway, 23 miles of which are continuous non-freeway, 20 miles of which is the same route (NJ 73).