_______________ is overrated (road edition)

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

All the Interstates listed in my signature. (Yes this includes I-57 Arkansas)!

[hotdogPi]

State maintenance equaling state numbering. Of the few states where this isn't the case (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Alaska), the first two have a logical system, and Alaska is going to be tricky no matter what. On the contrary side, California does not have a coherent system, with gaps that are somehow still signed sometimes, major unnumbered roads, etc. And many states have numbered roads to nowhere.

Signals timed for frequent stops. While not popular, it's overrated in that it has (example numbers) 20% support when it should have 5%. I was just on MA 16 in Medford and Somerville earlier and it has signs saying that.

US/Canada border security at land crossings. We should revert to pre-9/11 protocols.

County clinching. While not bad (this is a case of "should be moderately popular rather than overwhelmingly popular"), my way of clinching areas is different. Going by area, you'll go through a lot of nothing while possibly missing a lot of area. For example, driving through Los Angeles straight through (or even clipping Los Angeles County) gets you the county, but you're seen almost none of it.

Streets named after nearby municipalities that don't go there and aren't the first step on the way to going there. (If they do go there, it's perfectly fine.)

HOV lanes including people who are too young to drive counting as a passenger.

I-69 in Texas north of Corpus Christi. (The portion south of Corpus Christi is essential.)

Road signs on Interstates with an airport logo or hospital logo without saying which one it is, especially if the airport is a municipal airport without commercial flights.

The concept of a "speed zone". IMO, speed zones should be zones where you can speed, not those where you're prevented from speeding.

Michigan's refusal to have interoperable toll roads. This is only overrated rather than universally derided because there are some people on this forum defending it.

[WillWeaverRVA]

This thread.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

This thread.

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[hbelkins]

Roundabouts. (You knew I was going to say that...)

Those humongous APL overhead signs.

[Scott5114]

State maintenance equaling state numbering. Of the few states where this isn't the case (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Alaska), the first two have a logical system, and Alaska is going to be tricky no matter what. On the contrary side, California does not have a coherent system, with gaps that are somehow still signed sometimes, major unnumbered roads, etc. And many states have numbered roads to nowhere.

State maintenance not equaling state numbering is overrated. In most states, the organizations who would be responsible for maintaining roads not maintained by the states (counties, cities) are underfunded, so the state route marker serves as a "seal of quality" that a road is maintained to acceptable standards to make long-distance travel on them feasible. You're at least getting pavement, two 12' lanes, and painted lines, which is a standard most of the counties in Oklahoma can't meet.

Okay, yes, there are some states where that's not true (NM, KY). But there are far more where it is.

A route number being continuous across some shitty county or town road is useless enough that it may as well not be numbered, because there's no guarantee that it'll actually serve the purpose a numbered route is supposed to serve. And even if the road is fine, I don't trust counties and cities to correctly post the relevant turns, assurance shields, etc. on the route.

County clinching. While not bad (this is a case of "should be moderately popular rather than overwhelmingly popular"), my way of clinching areas is different. Going by area, you'll go through a lot of nothing while possibly missing a lot of area. For example, driving through Los Angeles straight through (or even clipping Los Angeles County) gets you the county, but you're seen almost none of it.

This is fine because in many counties there's nothing worth seeing in most of that area. (Or, in the West, a lot of area with no feasible way to actually access it in an ordinary car.)

You need to get out of Massachusetts more.

[TBKS1]

County clinching. While not bad (this is a case of "should be moderately popular rather than overwhelmingly popular"), my way of clinching areas is different. Going by area, you'll go through a lot of nothing while possibly missing a lot of area. For example, driving through Los Angeles straight through (or even clipping Los Angeles County) gets you the county, but you're seen almost none of it.

This is fine because in many counties there's nothing worth seeing in most of that area. (Or, in the West, a lot of area with no feasible way to actually access it in an ordinary car.)

You need to get out of Massachusetts more.

I'm not particularly huge on county clinching but I wouldn't say it's overrated at all. I've mentioned elsewhere, it's not my main thing, but rather a by-product of my travels. I'd rather try to get a picture of every Missouri state highway shield than visit every single county in Missouri, although in some states (Arkansas included) it's practically not possible to not visit all 75 counties if you're trying to get a picture of every route shield in the state.

[Max Rockatansky]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

[The_Ginger]

County clinching. While not bad (this is a case of "should be moderately popular rather than overwhelmingly popular"), my way of clinching areas is different. Going by area, you'll go through a lot of nothing while possibly missing a lot of area. For example, driving through Los Angeles straight through (or even clipping Los Angeles County) gets you the county, but you're seen almost none of it.

The way I track this is by differentiating between visting a county and clinching a county. If I clip the edge of, say, Dallas Co., Tx., then I mark it as visited. If I travel on all Travel Mapping-logged roads in that county, then it's marked as clinched. Because of this, I actually haven't ever clinched a county, but I'm relatively close in Wood Co. of my home state.

[Rothman]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

[JayhawkCO]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

How sparsely you talking? You know I like rougher roads but 50+ miles of washboards sounds miserable.

[Max Rockatansky]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

How sparsely you talking? You know I like rougher roads but 50+ miles of washboards sounds miserable.

I'm thinking of something like the paved part of Panoche Road (San Benito County Route J1).  The dirt portion of the road is better maintained by San  Benito County.  Granted the ford of Panoche Creek is there and Fresno County can't maintain dirt for some reason. 

So essentially I'm thinking rural highways with something like 200 vehicles daily. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Nothing a good tall tire side wall can't remedy.  Low profile tires and wheels are something I'll never understand.

[Rothman]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Nothing a good tall tire side wall can't remedy.  Low profile tires and wheels are something I'll never understand.

O.o. I guess.  I did stupidly buy some sort of Elantra with stupid low profile stupid tires once.  Never stupid again.

I still don't think regular tires make one invincible, though.

And, to be fair, I can think of rural roads that were paved once and then deteriorated to the point where they should have just been kept dirt in hindsight.  Don't pave where you won't maintain.

[Max Rockatansky]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Nothing a good tall tire side wall can't remedy.  Low profile tires and wheels are something I'll never understand.

O.o. I guess.  I did stupidly buy some sort of Elantra with stupid low profile stupid tires once.  Never stupid again.

I still don't think regular tires make one invincible, though.

And, to be fair, I can think of rural roads that were paved once and then deteriorated to the point where they should have just been kept dirt in hindsight.  Don't pave where you won't maintain.

The bolded is something I have a lot of in my area.  The worst surface possible IMO is dirt haphazardly applied to badly worn asphalt.

[kphoger]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Depends on the road.  I remember driving an unpaved road in western Las Animas County (Colorado) that was so silky-smooth I could easily do 50-55 mph sustained, occasionally up to 60 mph.  Punctured tires come from gravel that's too large and sharp, and damage to the oil pan comes from driving on rocky roads.

[Max Rockatansky]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Depends on the road.  I remember driving an unpaved road in western Las Animas County (Colorado) that was so silky-smooth I could easily do 50-55 mph sustained, occasionally up to 60 mph.  Punctured tires come from gravel that's too large and sharp, and damage to the oil pan comes from driving on rocky roads.

50-60 MPH dirt roads also tend to be pretty commonplace in the southwest.  Soda Lake Road out in Carrizo Plain National Monument comes to mind as one of the best around here.  Mariposa County has plenty of high-quality dirt with the likes of White Rock Road, West Westfall Road, Preston Road and Silver Bar Road.  All of them are low clearance friendly.

[gonealookin]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

How sparsely you talking? You know I like rougher roads but 50+ miles of washboards sounds miserable.

I'm thinking of something like the paved part of Panoche Road (San Benito County Route J1).  The dirt portion of the road is better maintained by San  Benito County.  Granted the ford of Panoche Creek is there and Fresno County can't maintain dirt for some reason. 

So essentially I'm thinking rural highways with something like 200 vehicles daily. 

When Nevada removed the state route designation from SR 121 several years ago, the asphalt was ground away and replaced with a gravel surface.  The road runs about 27 miles north from US 50 up to Dixie Valley, and I'm sure when it was in the state route system AADT was in the two digits.

Dixie Valley Road is still state-maintained in its gravel-surfaced state, but is rather oddly listed as "Frontage Road FRCH08" (as it's in Churchill County) in the NDOT maintenance inventory.

There are other instances where former US 40 along Interstate 80 has been resurfaced with gravel as well, though much of it is still paved highway.

[Max Rockatansky]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

How sparsely you talking? You know I like rougher roads but 50+ miles of washboards sounds miserable.

I'm thinking of something like the paved part of Panoche Road (San Benito County Route J1).  The dirt portion of the road is better maintained by San  Benito County.  Granted the ford of Panoche Creek is there and Fresno County can't maintain dirt for some reason. 

So essentially I'm thinking rural highways with something like 200 vehicles daily. 

When Nevada removed the state route designation from SR 121 several years ago, the asphalt was ground away and replaced with a gravel surface.  The road runs about 27 miles north from US 50 up to Dixie Valley, and I'm sure when it was in the state route system AADT was in the two digits.

Dixie Valley Road is still state-maintained in its gravel-surfaced state, but is rather oddly listed as "Frontage Road FRCH08" (as it's in Churchill County) in the NDOT maintenance inventory.

There are other instances where former US 40 along Interstate 80 has been resurfaced with gravel as well, though much of it is still paved highway.

Coincidentally NV 121 is still signed from US 50.  I just passed this shield yesterday:

121NVa by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Rothman]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Depends on the road.  I remember driving an unpaved road in western Las Animas County (Colorado) that was so silky-smooth I could easily do 50-55 mph sustained, occasionally up to 60 mph.  Punctured tires come from gravel that's too large and sharp, and damage to the oil pan comes from driving on rocky roads.

50-60 MPH dirt roads also tend to be pretty commonplace in the southwest.  Soda Lake Road out in Carrizo Plain National Monument comes to mind as one of the best around here.  Mariposa County has plenty of high-quality dirt with the likes of White Rock Road, West Westfall Road, Preston Road and Silver Bar Road.  All of them are low clearance friendly.

IIRC, Iowa posts some dirt roads at 55 mph.  Don't think I ever hit that speed on them, though.

[JayhawkCO]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Depends on the road.  I remember driving an unpaved road in western Las Animas County (Colorado) that was so silky-smooth I could easily do 50-55 mph sustained, occasionally up to 60 mph.  Punctured tires come from gravel that's too large and sharp, and damage to the oil pan comes from driving on rocky roads.

Heck, even part of the Apache Trail that I drove a month ago I could maintain those speeds. Somewhere around here.

[Max Rockatansky]

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Depends on the road.  I remember driving an unpaved road in western Las Animas County (Colorado) that was so silky-smooth I could easily do 50-55 mph sustained, occasionally up to 60 mph.  Punctured tires come from gravel that's too large and sharp, and damage to the oil pan comes from driving on rocky roads.

Heck, even part of the Apache Trail that I drove a month ago I could maintain those speeds. Somewhere around here.

Hard surfacing on sparsely traveled highways.  Dirt and gravel are just fine in lieu of asphalt that gets replaced only every three decades or so.

Punctured tires and various pans...

Depends on the road.  I remember driving an unpaved road in western Las Animas County (Colorado) that was so silky-smooth I could easily do 50-55 mph sustained, occasionally up to 60 mph.  Punctured tires come from gravel that's too large and sharp, and damage to the oil pan comes from driving on rocky roads.

Heck, even part of the Apache Trail that I drove a month ago I could maintain those speeds. Somewhere around here.

Similarly could really get going on nearby AZ 288.  That's the main road into Young and ADOT keeps it in really good shape with consistent grading.

[kphoger]

IIRC, Iowa posts some dirt roads at 55 mph.  Don't think I ever hit that speed on them, though.

In Kansas, unless otherwise posted, all county roads have a 55mph speed limit, and there's no distinction in the law between paved and unpaved.  So that means even something like this has a speed limit of 55.

[JayhawkCO]

IIRC, Iowa posts some dirt roads at 55 mph.  Don't think I ever hit that speed on them, though.

In Kansas, unless otherwise posted, all county roads have a 55mph speed limit, and there's no distinction in the law between paved and unpaved.  So that means even something like this has a speed limit of 55.

That seems about as reasonable as actually trying to maintain 20mph (the official speed limit) of this:

[Scott5114]

All the Interstates listed in my signature. (Yes this includes I-57 Arkansas)!

Cancel I-11...

So how much time have you spent on I-11, anyway?

It was my first exposure to the state of Nevada (I drove in from Norman, Oklahoma using I-40→US 93→I-11). The first few miles of I-11 through the mountains along the Boulder City Bypass (which carried the I-11 designation from opening day) make a great first impression for the state. Within two years I ended up moving here.

If an Interstate can be so impressive it makes someone want to move there, I'd say there's a fair chance it's underrated, wouldn't you?