Most boring states for those into roads

[Brian556]

Quote from Road hog:

Oklahoma east of U.S. 69 is very scenic with some unique drives. But one time I diverged to the west and found an abandoned alignment of U.S. 62/75 paralleling I-40 west of Henryetta. Four-lane divided and everything. Hugely fascinating. Rode it out (it was rough) and followed it all the way into downtown Henryetta.

(On further review, only the 62-75 junction was divided and it's two-lane the rest of the way.)

That area is very interesting. Not is there only the former US 62 alignment that runs parallel to I-40, there is an even older abandoned alignment with abandoned y-intersection legs at US 75. Very Cool.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Henryetta,+OK&hl=en&ll=35.431092,-96.120758&spn=0.024617,0.049825&sll=33.09461,-97.057838&sspn=0.101244,0.199299&oq=Henryetta.&t=h&hnear=Henryetta,+Okmulgee,+Oklahoma&z=15

[bugo]

Quote from Road hog:

Oklahoma east of U.S. 69 is very scenic with some unique drives. But one time I diverged to the west and found an abandoned alignment of U.S. 62/75 paralleling I-40 west of Henryetta. Four-lane divided and everything. Hugely fascinating. Rode it out (it was rough) and followed it all the way into downtown Henryetta.

(On further review, only the 62-75 junction was divided and it's two-lane the rest of the way.)

That area is very interesting. Not is there only the former US 62 alignment that runs parallel to I-40, there is an even older abandoned alignment with abandoned y-intersection legs at US 75. Very Cool.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Henryetta,+OK&hl=en&ll=35.431092,-96.120758&spn=0.024617,0.049825&sll=33.09461,-97.057838&sspn=0.101244,0.199299&oq=Henryetta.&t=h&hnear=Henryetta,+Okmulgee,+Oklahoma&z=15

Is that old US 266?  Was it ever US 62?

[zzomtceo]

What, in your opinion, is the most boring state when it comes to the interesting road things we like?  I haven't given this a lot of thought yet but Oklahoma seems to be one where there are few changes or few things of interest.

Nebraska, outside of the Omaha area they only have 2 interchanges, although some other states might be even worse.

[golden eagle]

An ex-girlfriend of mine moved from Washington to Michigan in 2000. She said the drive through South Dakota was extremely boring.

[agentsteel53]

damn, I was just in Henryetta and I saw the current 75/old-62 junction, but entirely failed to spot the abandoned high-speed ramps just to the south of the freeway.

agreed on Oklahoma being very interesting.  lots of old bridges, and the scenery is excellent as well.

[bugo]

An ex-girlfriend of mine moved from Washington to Michigan in 2000. She said the drive through South Dakota was extremely boring.

The drive along I-29 in South Dakota is mostly boring, although there are some hills here and there.  I haven't been to any other part of the state.

[bugo]

damn, I was just in Henryetta and I saw the current 75/old-62 junction, but entirely failed to spot the abandoned high-speed ramps just to the south of the freeway.

I didn't know that was there until it was mentioned on this forum a few days ago.  I need to take a day and drive to Henryetta and head west and take what is left of the old alignment to at least Prague.

agreed on Oklahoma being very interesting.  lots of old bridges, and the scenery is excellent as well.

The scenery is excellent in some parts of the state.  Some parts are flat and boring.  The Ouachita and Ozark mountain ranges in the eastern part of the state are gorgeous.  A lot of folks talk about how ugly Oklahoma is but most of them have just been through on I-40 which isn't particularly scenic.  They should take a trip down US 259 and it would change their minds.

[formulanone]

From what I've seen in street view, the entire southeast looks VERY boring.  As my cousin described it "they took one tree and photoshopped it down the entire length of I-10".

The SE can be hit or miss. I-10 through most of Florida is pretty dull but there are some neat stretches like the super long bridge over the swamp in Louisiana or the bridge and tunnels in Mobile.

Somehow, I-10 manages to be more dull than I-75's Alligator Alley; at least you can see that there's not much in the vast Everglades, where as I-10 manages to be obscured by evergreens and slash pine trees throughout its entire length. Florida's Turnpike also manages to be a snoozer for the same reasons. Florida is flat, and thus the roads rarely have extensively scenic views. There's not a lot of "challenging" roads, either. It's easy as a tourist to be completely bored with the view.

But darned if we don't have a lot of roadgeeks from the Sunshine State; I guess it's because you can pretty much drive all-year-round without much trouble, there's all sorts of architectural styles, a mix of old and new, the state grid makes a lot of logical sense, you're never really too far away from major cities, yet can get to isolated and undisturbed areas easily, old/new/right/wrong/odd signage, and there's a surprising lot of the state and system to discover due to its peninsular geography.

Trouble is, you're in America's cul-de-sac.

[hotdogPi]

What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.

[agentsteel53]

What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.

there's some good stuff buried here and there.

[Brandon]

What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.

So, do you like unisigns?  If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!

[SD Mapman]

An ex-girlfriend of mine moved from Washington to Michigan in 2000. She said the drive through South Dakota was extremely boring.

The drive along I-29 in South Dakota is mostly boring, although there are some hills here and there.  I haven't been to any other part of the state.

The only exciting part is in the Black Hills. Everything else is just meh.

[southshore720]

What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.

So, do you like unisigns?  If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!

As a Rhode Island native, I can tell you that RI is filled with tons of anomalies that would make any road geek salivate.  RIDOT is so cash-strapped that caution is thrown to the wind when contracting out its signage and quality is never a factor.  MUTCD be damned!  You'll see mistakes, incorrect fonts & font sizes, aged reassurance shields, reassurance shields retained for former alignments with no signage for the correct alignment, unisigns as Brandon mentions, unreplaced BGSs from the 1960's/70's on abandoned stubs...  I definitely wouldn't put RI in this category.

[PColumbus73]

If we were to judge this based solely off of traffic signals, I would say North Carolina is pretty boring. It's great that they've done a good job at maintaining their signals, but now there aren't any unique or interesting signals.

Furthermore, I have never gotten over NC removing the double-red left turn signals that are everywhere in South Carolina.

[agentsteel53]

NC has occasional old signage, especially along the expressways heading out to the Outer Banks.

plus, they're the last state to use white guide signs regularly.  that's pretty interesting.

[Takumi]

North Carolina has all those future interstates. I don't think that's boring but others may.

Virginia certainly isn't boring.

[roadman65]

I-90 from east of Rapid City to the Missouri River is quite boring.   

I-70 from Limon, CO to the Kansas State Line is very boring and it is unlike the rest of Colorado with mountains.  This is one big flat plain, unlike typical Colorado. Heck even Kansas is less boring from the CO Border to Topeka because you at least have a grain silo or two to look at frequently, east of Limon it is just plain flat with nothing!

I-10 is pretty boring especially in the Florida Panhandle.

I-75 from Macon to the Florida Turnpike is not worthy to write home about.

Then US 19, 98, and ALT US 27 from Cross City, FL to Perry, FL can put you to sleep.  Even the US 19 & 27 concurrency is not that bad either considering it is a very straight highway.  I guess being amazed at the straight line as far as the horizon goes makes it interesting.  South of Perry the road curves with no scenery and just light green.

US 1 & 23 from Waycross, GA to Folkston, GA is boring as you have the Okefenokee to look at.

[SD Mapman]

I-90 from east of Rapid City to the Missouri River is quite boring.   

It's pretty bad East River, too... but I'm biased.

[Mergingtraffic]

What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.

So, do you like unisigns?  If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!

As a Rhode Island native, I can tell you that RI is filled with tons of anomalies that would make any road geek salivate.  RIDOT is so cash-strapped that caution is thrown to the wind when contracting out its signage and quality is never a factor.  MUTCD be damned!  You'll see mistakes, incorrect fonts & font sizes, aged reassurance shields, reassurance shields retained for former alignments with no signage for the correct alignment, unisigns as Brandon mentions, unreplaced button copy from the 1960's/70's on abandoned stubs...  I definitely wouldn't put RI in this category.

What stubs have ancient button copy? Hopefully going there next weekend

[PColumbus73]

Outside Savannah and Jacksonville, I-95 is pretty boring in the South. But I-95 does offer a great view of the Brunswick Bridge

[roadman65]

You are right about I-95 in GA.  It gives the rest of the state a bad rap, as it is within the coastal region with mostly swamps, and marshes.  My parents hated GA because of it until they both discovered  I-75 and the Appalachian Region in NW GA.

Apparently, how many others judge a state by one road sadly enough.  Like an old boss of mine once said you must travel the off interstate highways to get the feel of the region.  Interstates do take away from it all, as he also implied.   To me that is only correct only up to a point as you have the PA Turnpike that represents Pennsylvania real well.   Now with I-10 in Florida it is nothing like US 98 or other such roads around it.  US 98 tells a different story in the Panhandle than I-10 does for sure.  US 98 is the less boring of the two, but I-10 of course is faster.

[vdeane]

It's well known that people judge NJ by the Turnpike.  I wonder how many people judge NY by the Thruway.

[KEK Inc.]

Why don't we rename AARoads to AAOldButtonCopySigns?  Seriously, a state isn't bad if it's devoid of ancient signage that were damaged by the dinosaurs.  Button copy is cool, but Jesus...  I consider a state interesting on the basis of the standards of road hardware and frequency of interesting flyovers.

[agentsteel53]

GA has some old infrastructure here and there, but their absolutely garish post-90s-or-so signage ruins it for me.

also, pure Hell for county clinching.  at least Virginia's independent cities have interesting things to see.  Georgia is just Mississippi, without the concrete or the charm.

[southshore720]

What about Rhode Island? It's all urban, so I don't think there would be any interesting or abandoned signage. I may be wrong though.

So, do you like unisigns?  If so, then Rhode Island and Wisconsin are for you!

As a Rhode Island native, I can tell you that RI is filled with tons of anomalies that would make any road geek salivate.  RIDOT is so cash-strapped that caution is thrown to the wind when contracting out its signage and quality is never a factor.  MUTCD be damned!  You'll see mistakes, incorrect fonts & font sizes, aged reassurance shields, reassurance shields retained for former alignments with no signage for the correct alignment, unisigns as Brandon mentions, unreplaced BGSs from the 1960's/70's on abandoned stubs...  I definitely wouldn't put RI in this category.

What stubs have ancient button copy? Hopefully going there next weekend

Doofy, I made an edit to state "unreplaced BGSs" as I am not sure if the signs contain button copy or not (it's been a while since I've seen them), but I do know that signage on the Henderson Bridge in Providence and RI 138 in Newport after the Newport Bridge have not been replaced if you're interested in seeing some oldies.