Best, coolest, or most impressive stretches of highways

[Revive 755]

MO: I-49 Bella Vista Bypass northern section

I haven't driven I-49 in Missouri south of where US 71 splits off near the Arkansas border, but at least in Streetview it does not look that impressive to me.  Especially compared to the Ozark Mountain High Road/former MO 465 (Streetview 1], Streetview 2), parts of MO 21 in Jefferson County (Streetview 1, Streetview 2), or even the Route M expressway in Jefferson County (Streetview 1

[CoreySamson]

KS: Uh, I guess the new US 166/400 freeway near Baxter Springs?

Uff.  You really need to make a trip up to Kansas.  My top recommendations that are easy to get to when coming up from the south:

MO: I-49 Bella Vista Bypass northern section

I haven't driven I-49 south of where US 71 splits off near the Arkansas border, but at least in Streetview it does not look that impressive to me.  Especially compared to the Ozark Mountain High Road/former MO 465 (Streetview 1], Streetview 2), parts of MO 21 in Jefferson County (Streetview 1, Streetview 2), or even the Route M expressway in Jefferson County (Streetview 1

I probably should clarify... I merely posted the route from each state that I liked or found most impressive from my own travels. My travels in Missouri and Kansas are extremely limited... https://travelmapping.net/user/mapview.php?units=miles&u=coreysamson&rg=KS,MO

... so I picked the routes I have driven in each that I found the most interesting and impressive. When you only have 130 miles or so between the two states, it makes pickings pretty slim, hence the lame choices.

[cwf1701]

I-94 going eastbound into Detroit around the Uniroyal tire. the sight of the big tire as you get closer to Detroit from the airport.

[newyooper]

Here's my favorite stretches of highway I've traveled (and can remember) by state:

AL: I-10 over Mobile Bay
AK: Denali Park Road
AZ: US60 at Salt River Canyon
AR: I-49 south of Fayetteville
CA: CA1 through Big Sur
CO: US550 between Silverton and Ouray
CT: I-95 over the Connecticut River
DE: DE16 by Broadkill Beach
FL: I-295 over the Dames Point Bridge
GA: I-75 just south of the Tennessee border
ID: ID55 between Cascade and Horseshoe Bend
IL: I-290 heading east into the Loop
IN: I-65 heading north into downtown Indy
IA: I-29 around Sioux Falls
KS: I-670 heading into downtown KC
KY: I-71/75 over the Spence Bridge heading into Cincy
LA: I-10 over the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge
ME: UA1A by York Beach
MD: I-68 between Hancock and Cumberland
MA: I-93 heading south into downtown Boston
MI: Smoky Lake Road in the UP
MN: US61 between Wabasha and Winona
MS: I-110 in Biloxi
MO: US169 heading south into downtown KC
MT: Going to the Sun Road in Glacier NP
NE: NE71 heading north into Scottsbluff
NV: Las Vegas Strip
NH: US302 through the White Mountains
NJ: I-95 over the GW Bridge
NM: NM17 north of Chama
NY: I-95 over the GW Bridge
NC: I-40 near the Tennessee border
ND: I-94 near Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park
OH: I-71/75 split in Cincy
OK: I-44 near the KS/MO/OK tripoint
OR: I-84 through Columbia Gorge
PA: I-376 exiting the Fort Pitt Tunnel
RI: I-95 heading south into downtown Providence
SC: I-26 near the North Carolina border
SD: US16A
TN: I-24 near Lookout Mountain
TX: I-35E southbound into downtown Dallas
UT: UT9 heading westbound into Zion NP
VT: I-89 near Bolton
VA: US13 on the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel/Bridge
WA: 1) I-5 northbound in downtown Seattle and 2) I-90 through Issaquah Pass
WV: I-64/77 concurrency
WI: WI55 through the Menominee Reservation
WY: US212 (Beartooth Highway)

I hate to nit-pick and quote a post from last year, but "IA: I-29 around Sioux Falls"?  Checks internet, yep Sioux Falls is still in South Dakota.  Did you mean Sioux City, IA?

[JayhawkCO]

Here's my favorite stretches of highway I've traveled (and can remember) by state:

AL: I-10 over Mobile Bay
AK: Denali Park Road
AZ: US60 at Salt River Canyon
AR: I-49 south of Fayetteville
CA: CA1 through Big Sur
CO: US550 between Silverton and Ouray
CT: I-95 over the Connecticut River
DE: DE16 by Broadkill Beach
FL: I-295 over the Dames Point Bridge
GA: I-75 just south of the Tennessee border
ID: ID55 between Cascade and Horseshoe Bend
IL: I-290 heading east into the Loop
IN: I-65 heading north into downtown Indy
IA: I-29 around Sioux Falls
KS: I-670 heading into downtown KC
KY: I-71/75 over the Spence Bridge heading into Cincy
LA: I-10 over the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge
ME: UA1A by York Beach
MD: I-68 between Hancock and Cumberland
MA: I-93 heading south into downtown Boston
MI: Smoky Lake Road in the UP
MN: US61 between Wabasha and Winona
MS: I-110 in Biloxi
MO: US169 heading south into downtown KC
MT: Going to the Sun Road in Glacier NP
NE: NE71 heading north into Scottsbluff
NV: Las Vegas Strip
NH: US302 through the White Mountains
NJ: I-95 over the GW Bridge
NM: NM17 north of Chama
NY: I-95 over the GW Bridge
NC: I-40 near the Tennessee border
ND: I-94 near Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park
OH: I-71/75 split in Cincy
OK: I-44 near the KS/MO/OK tripoint
OR: I-84 through Columbia Gorge
PA: I-376 exiting the Fort Pitt Tunnel
RI: I-95 heading south into downtown Providence
SC: I-26 near the North Carolina border
SD: US16A
TN: I-24 near Lookout Mountain
TX: I-35E southbound into downtown Dallas
UT: UT9 heading westbound into Zion NP
VT: I-89 near Bolton
VA: US13 on the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel/Bridge
WA: 1) I-5 northbound in downtown Seattle and 2) I-90 through Issaquah Pass
WV: I-64/77 concurrency
WI: WI55 through the Menominee Reservation
WY: US212 (Beartooth Highway)

I hate to nit-pick and quote a post from last year, but "IA: I-29 around Sioux Falls"?  Checks internet, yep Sioux Falls is still in South Dakota.  Did you mean Sioux City, IA?

That would be correct. It SUX.

[JayhawkCO]

All of you listing things for AZ which aren't the Virgin River Gorge are insane.

Have you driven through Salt River Gorge?

[Max Rockatansky]

All of you listing things for AZ which aren't the Virgin River Gorge are insane.

Have you driven through Salt River Gorge?

I don't even know if I'd list I-15 as a top ten scenic road for Arizona.  Yeah sure, it is pretty amazing that a freeway was built through the Virgin River Gorge.  The problem is that a freeway can only impress to a certain extent that never can be topped by what can be found on non-limited access roads. 

[kphoger]

All of you listing things for AZ which aren't the Virgin River Gorge are insane.

Have you driven through Salt River Gorge?

I don't even know if I'd list I-15 as a top ten scenic road for Arizona. 

For the record...  US-60:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/z7D1XH1crKPTkQXM9

[Max Rockatansky]

All of you listing things for AZ which aren't the Virgin River Gorge are insane.

Have you driven through Salt River Gorge?

I don't even know if I'd list I-15 as a top ten scenic road for Arizona. 

US-60, not I-15:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/z7D1XH1crKPTkQXM9

Salt River Canyon has the Virgin River Gorge beat.  The Superior-Miami Highway (AKA Million Dollar Highway) through Queen Creek Canyon IMO is another US 60 segment in Arizona that beats what I-15 brings forth.

[kphoger]

It's been so long since I've been in Arizona, that I don't even remember the stretch of I-15 through there.  Hard to believe, but true.  Strangely, I remember coming through Cedar City on UT-14, and I remember entering Nevada at Mesquite, but I don't remember anything in between.  I'm pretty sure one of my parents was driving that stretch, though, so maybe I was asleep for it.

[kphoger]

Hey, by the way, looking at Google Maps...  What's up with the insanely large amount of extra asphalt along southwest-bound I-15 from shortly before the Nevada state line to halfway down the first off-ramp?

[pderocco]

I-94 going eastbound into Detroit around the Uniroyal tire. the sight of the big tire as you get closer to Detroit from the airport.

So that's where her tire went. We've been looking for it forever.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/yfZqrwv5GcRzKyTK6

[gonealookin]

For California overall I can't argue with CA 1/Big Sur.  For a local short stretch I like the CA 89 hogback section along the south side of Emerald Bay:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/cpf59Pc2ZGAoWvQbA  Plus the "avalanche zone" carved out of the cliff (go forward a ways there on GSV) and the super-sharp hairpins (other direction, where some dolt ignoring the length restrictions and trying to drive a big rig through there got stuck and blocked the road for about three hours yesterday).

The hogback part has also been seen in a number of car commercials on TV.

[Scott5114]

All of you listing things for AZ which aren't the Virgin River Gorge are insane.

Have you driven through Salt River Gorge?

I don't even know if I'd list I-15 as a top ten scenic road for Arizona.  Yeah sure, it is pretty amazing that a freeway was built through the Virgin River Gorge.  The problem is that a freeway can only impress to a certain extent that never can be topped by what can be found on non-limited access roads. 

I've got a hot take: if a road isn't reasonably straight, it cannot be scenic. I did CA-18 today, and while it seemed like it was probably a nice drive, I couldn't tell you whether it is or not—I couldn't actually look at anything since I was too busy focusing on driving around all the curves!

[Max Rockatansky]

All of you listing things for AZ which aren't the Virgin River Gorge are insane.

Have you driven through Salt River Gorge?

I don't even know if I'd list I-15 as a top ten scenic road for Arizona.  Yeah sure, it is pretty amazing that a freeway was built through the Virgin River Gorge.  The problem is that a freeway can only impress to a certain extent that never can be topped by what can be found on non-limited access roads. 

I've got a hot take: if a road isn't reasonably straight, it cannot be scenic. I did CA-18 today, and while it seemed like it was probably a nice drive, I couldn't tell you whether it is or not—I couldn't actually look at anything since I was too busy focusing on driving around all the curves!

Here's another hot take.  That quasi-freeway segment on CA 18 through Waterman Canyon is the more impressive engineering accomplishment than I-15 in the Virgin River Gorge.  That road through Waterman Canyon existed long before Interstate standards homogenized everything limited access and has been consistently be stretched to meet the needs of the day.  It certainly doesn't hurt that you can pull off on the huge shoulders to have a decent look at what you're are driving on.

[Scott5114]

It certainly doesn't hurt that you can pull off on the huge shoulders to have a decent look at what you're are driving on.

I guess? I feel like if you have to stop to enjoy the scenery, that makes it no longer a "scenic drive" and more like a scenic place that just happens to have a road in it.

[kphoger]

That's what cruise control is for.  Or, as I like to call it, "hands free driving feature".  Just set cruise control to "on", climb into the back of the car to unpack your camera, and start recording video out the window.

[Max Rockatansky]

It certainly doesn't hurt that you can pull off on the huge shoulders to have a decent look at what you're are driving on.

I guess? I feel like if you have to stop to enjoy the scenery, that makes it no longer a "scenic drive" and more like a scenic place that just happens to have a road in it.

I guess that depends on several things.  Speaking for myself I am pretty comfortable on curvy roads.  More often than not I can focus enough on the road and take in the scenery at the same time.  Maybe I'm more comfortable on stuff like that than others? 

I was able to get viable behind the wheel photos on the Waterman Canyon segment of CA 18 along with those from the shoulder.  Some scenic highways don't really have an opportunity to get that "scenic money shot" anywhere but from behind the wheel.  I tend to see I-15 in the Virgin River Gorge as one such corridor. 

This is the segment of 18 I keep referencing.  The trumpet interchange with 138 basically hangs onto the rim of a cliff:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/L55x8o2Vd8

[Max Rockatansky]

That's what cruise control is for.  Or, as I like to call it, "hands free driving feature".  Just set cruise control to "on", climb into the back of the car to unpack your camera, and start recording video out the window.

It doesn't take much to get a decent set of photos even with a basic phone camera.  I use a $3 black Walmart pillow case to block glare and RainX to get my windshield clear.  1.7x zoom seems to be more than enough on an iPhone to get a decent shots that don't often need to be cropped.  In the case of the iPhone you can configure the camera like a hot key that opens when you double tap with your thumb.