Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[TravelingBethelite]

Coming July 31st. Our trip will be a round trip. Our route is I-84 > NY 17 > I-86 > I-90 > OH 2 > I-75 > I-70 >I-465 > I-74 > I-80 > I-29 > I-635 > I-70 > US 40 > I-70 (Topeka) > I-135 > US 81 > US 166 > I-35 > I-240 > I-40 > I-55 > I-12 > I-10 > I-75 > US 341 > Alt US 129 > GA 26 > I-16 > I-95 > I-295 > US 50 >I-95/495 > I-95 > I-695 > I-83 > US 30 > US 222 > I-78 > I-287 > US 202 > US 6/202 > US 6 > Home!

Any ideas, suggestions, alterations, comments? Thanks. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Avoid the DC Beltway like it was the plague and take I-81 past Shenandoah....unless you are stopping at the National Mall....  Honestly it's kind of hard to answer your question without some way points other than routes.

[TravelingBethelite]

Way-points will include Danbury, CT, Middletown, NY, Binghamton, Erie, PA, Cleveland, Port Gypsum, and Toledo, OH, Dayton, OH, Indy, Champaign, and Peoria, IL, Bettendorf, and Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, St. Joesph, and Kansas City, MO, Topeka, Salina, and Wichita, KS, OK City, Fort Worth, Hillsboro, Waco, Austin, and Houston, TX, Lake Charles, and New Orleans, LA, Bay St. Louis, and Biloxi, MS, Mobile, AL, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Lake City, and Jacksonville, FL, Savannah, GA, Florence, and Dillon, SC, Fayetteville, and Rocky Mount, NC, Richmond and Ladysmith, VA, Cheverly, College Park, and Lutherville-Timonium, MD, York, Reading, and Allentown, PA, Buckingham Township, and Oakland, NJ, Peeksill, and finally Brewster, NY.

(Not the same planned route, the new one is I-35 > I-410 > I-10 > I-10/12 > I-10 > I-95.)

[TravelingBethelite]

Route change! Here is the tentative new route/plan for our trip:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=17tlVYYRe0IxknzT4gfvvjHO-geo

All I have to do now is to raise the money...can't stay long here. Gotta work for it.

[pianocello]

In the Quad Cities, avoid the I-74 bridge, especially during rush hour. Unless you have a specific stop planned, I would recommend taking I-280 around, since it's (mostly) free of construction this year.

[hbelkins]

Route change! Here is the tentative new route/plan for our trip:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=17tlVYYRe0IxknzT4gfvvjHO-geo

Access denied.

[US 81]

Also, what are you looking for? Efficiency? Less traffic? Cool road architecture? Local color/flavor?

 

[TravelingBethelite]

Also, what are you looking for? Efficiency? Less traffic? Cool road architecture? Local color/flavor?

A little bit each of all that.

[US 81]

Also, what are you looking for? Efficiency? Less traffic? Cool road architecture? Local color/flavor?

A little bit each of all that.

OK, for the Texas segment. I-35 is the most direct way from OKC to San Antonio. You'll have to decide whether to do 35E or 35W in Denton. 35E through Dallas is a bit longer but takes you close to the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and intersects the Woodall Rogers fwy (TX 366) a trenched freeway with a park deck. US 75 from the east end of TX 366 south to I-45 is the unsigned I-345. There is a big movement to tear down this freeway segment so this might be a chance to drive it before it's gone. More traffic and a lot of construction on the Dallas leg might convince you to take the Ft. Worth branch, 35W which saves you 12 miles or so. The Austin segment of I-35 has the upper and lower deck; the lower deck is clearly a very old road architecture. Very short entrance/exit ramps, almost non-existent sight-lines. It's cool because it's historic but it is one of the most congested highway segments in the state. There is a toll road bypass around Austin, TX Toll 130, speed limit 85mph, which intersects I-10 east of San Antonio. This should be the fastest, least congested way through the area. You can follow I-35 to San Antonio and pick up I-10 there. Downtown, I-35/I-10 has an old double-decker structure but it feels a little safer than the one in Austin. Also, from Austin, US 290 goes to Houston, but much of it is an undivided highway. TX 71 to I-10 to Houston is slightly longer but much more scenic, following the Colorado River basin, and it's a divided highway most of the way.  Houston is a mess however/whenever you get there (except maybe at 2am). Beltway 8 (Toll) is a big loop which will take you out of your way but it moves so much better than the freeways downtown or the I-610 loop. The Pierce Elevated (I-45) is coming down soon, so again, maybe here's your chance to see that before it's torn down. Any ship channel bridge is cool, I like the one on Beltway 8. Let me also suggest US 281, probably I-44 from OKC to Wichita Falls. Parallels I-35 to the west, very scenic, seldom if ever congested, goes right to San Antonio where you could pick up I-10.

If you're interested in road history and old alignments, let me know, it's a big interest of mine but I don't want to bog down this post with something you're not interested in or won't have time to pursue. Have a great trip.

[TravelingBethelite]

Route change! Here is the tentative new route/plan for our trip:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=17tlVYYRe0IxknzT4gfvvjHO-geo

Access denied.

You should be able to access it now. https://drive.google.com/open?id=17tlVYYRe0IxknzT4gfvvjHO-geo&usp=sharing

P.S. US 81-my route in Texas has changed, due to relatives asking me to shorten the trip a little. My planned route is now 35 > 35E/W (haven't decided yet) > 35 > US 84 > TX 31 (to visit an aunt of ours in Hubbard) > TX 171> US 84> I-45

[US 81]

P.S. US 81-my route in Texas has changed, due to relatives asking me to shorten the trip a little. My planned route is now 35 > 35E/W (haven't decided yet) > 35 > US 84 > TX 31 (to visit an aunt of ours in Hubbard) > TX 171> US 84> I-45

Family is important. Thought about taking TX 171 east out of Hillsboro, to go directly to Hubbard? OTOH, I-35 coming into Bellmead (north Waco) where you would pick up US 84 : there are multiple old alignments through Waco of US 84 & US 77 (and former US 81) so some cool architecture there. As you exit I-35 to get on US 84, if you go west rather than east you immediately get to the old intersection of US 81/77 (now Bus 77) so it's right there, not out of your way. If you have more time, just look for "New Dallas Highway" and "Old Dallas Road" to see more of the historic stuff. Once you get to I-45 in Huntsville, watch for the giant Sam Houston statue, also the usual warning signs about not picking up hitchhikers near the prison. Lynchburg ferry in Houston if you have the time.

Have a great trip

[kphoger]

Also, what are you looking for? Efficiency? Less traffic? Cool road architecture? Local color/flavor?

A little bit each of all that.

OK, for the Texas segment. I-35 is the most direct way from OKC to San Antonio. You'll have to decide whether to do 35E or 35W in Denton. 35E through Dallas is a bit longer but takes you close to the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and intersects the Woodall Rogers fwy (TX 366) a trenched freeway with a park deck. US 75 from the east end of TX 366 south to I-45 is the unsigned I-345. There is a big movement to tear down this freeway segment so this might be a chance to drive it before it's gone. More traffic and a lot of construction on the Dallas leg might convince you to take the Ft. Worth branch, 35W which saves you 12 miles or so. The Austin segment of I-35 has the upper and lower deck; the lower deck is clearly a very old road architecture. Very short entrance/exit ramps, almost non-existent sight-lines. It's cool because it's historic but it is one of the most congested highway segments in the state. There is a toll road bypass around Austin, TX Toll 130, speed limit 85mph, which intersects I-10 east of San Antonio. This should be the fastest, least congested way through the area. You can follow I-35 to San Antonio and pick up I-10 there. Downtown, I-35/I-10 has an old double-decker structure but it feels a little safer than the one in Austin. Also, from Austin, US 290 goes to Houston, but much of it is an undivided highway. TX 71 to I-10 to Houston is slightly longer but much more scenic, following the Colorado River basin, and it's a divided highway most of the way.  Houston is a mess however/whenever you get there (except maybe at 2am). Beltway 8 (Toll) is a big loop which will take you out of your way but it moves so much better than the freeways downtown or the I-610 loop. The Pierce Elevated (I-45) is coming down soon, so again, maybe here's your chance to see that before it's torn down. Any ship channel bridge is cool, I like the one on Beltway 8. Let me also suggest US 281, probably I-44 from OKC to Wichita Falls. Parallels I-35 to the west, very scenic, seldom if ever congested, goes right to San Antonio where you could pick up I-10.

If you're interested in road history and old alignments, let me know, it's a big interest of mine but I don't want to bog down this post with something you're not interested in or won't have time to pursue. Have a great trip.

I now avoid driving through DFW like the plague (actually, I would definitely get much closer to the plague than I currently get to DFW).  But my experience of driving from Wichita down to and past San Antonio is...

Through DFW, I-35W through Fort Worth is my preferred route.  Traffic always stacks up southbound as you approach Belknap Street, but it's fairly short-lived and then it's clear sailing the rest of the way.  Northbound, traffic jams are hit or miss but tend to pop up somewhere between Burleson and I-20.  I've driven I-35E through Dallas before (because we were staying in Waxahachie both directions) but I avoided downtown, instead using Loop-12, Spur-408, and I-20.  Doing so may or may not have saved time (I saw a car south of that bypass that I'd also seen north of it), but I imagine it did save some headache.  Between Denton and Carrollton, I recall the roadway being quite narrow and hilly for an urban Interstate, and I could see traffic backing up there easily.

Austin is usually not too bad, although traffic does often back up there.  The bi-level portion is neat to drive on if you use the lower deck.  The last time I made the drive, I bypassed the whole area by using TX-130 on a pay-by-mail basis, as I do not have a TxTag.  The northern portion is in great condition; the southernmost portion undulates a little bit, making 85 mph seem a little fast in a heavy-laden vehicle.  Overall, it's a great highway and I recommend it for avoiding the traffic of I-35, as long as you're prepared to get a TxTag or do pay-by-mail.

I-35 approaching San Antonio was gearing up for some major construction last time I was through there, specifically a redoing of the 35/410 interchange at MP-164; I haven't followed the progress of that project, so it may be complete by now for all I know.  Traffic approaching Selma tends to be thick for some reason, but otherwise it's not bad.  I've gone straight through downtown once and it was a little confusing, but that might be because I was following someone else that time (the darned guy passed me up and then missed the exit for 410).

Nowadays I don't even cross the border at Laredo, instead choosing a path farther west, so I haven't actually done your route since 2014.

[TravelingBethelite]

We leave within 8 or 9 hours...a shortened route, but I'm still happy to go. It's a roadtrip-that make some happy enough on its own!

[TravelingBethelite]

I'm back...it was great! Photos to come...it takes a while to upload 7,425 photos!!!! 

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm back...it was great! Photos to come...it takes a while to upload 7,425 photos!!!! 

Jesus....I scanned all my family photos from the 70s onward and only have some 29,000 for my entire life.  Granted that rate picked up substantially post 2000 but damn....

[US 81]

I'm back...it was great! Photos to come...it takes a while to upload 7,425 photos!!!! 

Welcome home!  Will enjoy hearing about it!