America's Scariest Roads?

[hbelkins]

While I was a passenger and not the driver in this case, I remember the Mount Washington Auto Road in NH being a challenging drive. There is no StreetView since it's a private road, but there are plenty of geotagged pictures in Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&sll=44.289206,-71.271228&sspn=0.045711,0.077162&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=&ll=44.289206,-71.271228&spn=0.045465,0.077162&z=14&layer=c&cbll=44.289206,-71.271228&cbp=12,0,,0,5&photoid=po-35658259

My brother has done both the Moki Dugway and the Mount Washington Auto Road and he says the latter is much more scary.

Before it was rebuilt a few years ago, US 119 across Pine Mountain in Kentucky could be a bit hairy.

[corco]

One I thought of just now that I remember being plenty scary is Washington SR 142. As far as a paved road goes, it's pretty bad, although for a fairly short distance (probably 5 miles of sketchiness). Here's a shot of how narrow it gets:



Washington 129/Oregon 3 is no picnic either, but it's not nearly as bad as the Beartooth or the Dugway look. You can see it going down the hill and then back up (the back up part is all Oregon) here:

[mhallack]

Route 201 in Maine between Skowhegan and the Canadian border, AT NIGHT!! During the day it's allright, but at night it attracts all sorts of suicidal moose and deer. Once your in Quebec, just as scary until you get to St. Georges (I think thats the name of the town)

[AZDude]

I agree with the oatman highway.  Very narrow and curvy. 15 mph curves, NEVER AGAIN!

[Ian]

Route 201 in Maine between Skowhegan and the Canadian border, AT NIGHT!! During the day it's allright, but at night it attracts all sorts of suicidal moose and deer. Once your in Quebec, just as scary until you get to St. Georges (I think thats the name of the town)

We were in a heavy rain storm when we almost hit a "suicidal" moose on US 1 just south of Wiscasset!

[Alex]

the Kahekili did not seem troublesome at all to me.  I drove every road on Maui except for the southeast Pi'ilani, and none were all that particularly bad, except maybe a few possible old alignments of 39 where the circle shields are, just because it's so forested and it always seemed like I'd go around the next curve and find the road had fallen off a cliff.

I drove the Hana Highway as far south as Haleakala National Park. There are several articles in the local literature touting the scariness of the road, even the stories trying to convince those uncomfortable with the concept of driving it to take a van tour instead. I read Oscar's page on it a few nights before to get an idea of what to expect and appreciated his tips and description of the highway.

I had no problems either way despite the 600 or whatever hairpin turns. The road was enjoyable during the day but annoying at night due to some rain showers coinciding with being stuck in a clump of five cars from about halfway between Hana and junction Hawaii 365 westward. The lead two cars refused to use a pull-off to allow others to pass. When I caught up to the four, the last two both pulled over, including one car that I pulled over for miles back. It took until the four-lane section of Hawaii 36 for me to pass both of those lead cars.  The road is scary in the sense that there are sections where there is little to prevent you from plummeting to certain death, but shifting into low gear and having a good wherewithal worked for me. Doing the Hana Highway tour is definitely an all-day event, and we only covered a few stops due to a later start and a 615 sunset time.

[njroadhorse]

I'm nominating US 129 in the Smokies for this, specifically the "Devil's Backbone" (name check?) section.

Also, Skyline Drive during a foggy, rainy day.

[hbelkins]

I'm nominating US 129 in the Smokies for this, specifically the "Devil's Backbone" (name check?) section.

Tail of the Dragon.

I don't think it's necessarily scary. There aren't a lot of nonexistent shoulders and sheer drop-offs along that route.

[berberry]

I don't think it's necessarily scary. There aren't a lot of nonexistent shoulders and sheer drop-offs along that route.

I agree, I've been on those roads.  Certainly exciting, even thrilling, but not so much scary.

[njroadhorse]

I don't think it's necessarily scary. There aren't a lot of nonexistent shoulders and sheer drop-offs along that route.

I agree, I've been on those roads.  Certainly exciting, even thrilling, but not so much scary.

Oh yeah, not discounting the sheer fun of it, but if you're not familiar with it, I could see it being intimidating.

[relaxok]

I don't know if it's "scary" really, but 89A between Prescott Valley and Jerome, AZ through the mountains I recall being pretty uncomfortable... endless switchbacks, it really starts to get to you.. especially if you're alone..

Another place I've felt something like that kind of fatigue, is the drive south from Yosemite back to the bay area.. CA-41 I guess, toward Fresno.  It's just really tiring to drive.  I needed to go to sleep immediately and been really on edge every time I've made that drive.   Again, not scary so much as unpleasant.   The first 50 miles or so are agonizing.

[froggie]

Also, Skyline Drive during a foggy, rainy day.

Can't count this one too much...at least not the Virginia version.  Speed limit never gets above 35.  I've been able to do most of it at that speed, even on a "foggy rainy day".

[nexus73]

Oregon's South Coast has two dangerous narrow curvy roads that will give those who drive it all the chills and thrills they will want.  The Powers Highway runs 18 miles from 42 to Powers.  It starts off benignly enough for the first few miles and then it's all tough sledding after that.  Add in some slides and you're good to NOT go...LOL!  The other one would be in Curry County and it's an old alignment of US 101 (replaced in 1965 and that cut the trip from Gold Beach to Brookings from 40 to 27 miles) that today is called Carpenterville Road.  Steep dropoffs with no guardrails mean one teensy bit of inattention will kill you.  The town of Carpenterville no longer exists but when it did, it was located at what at that time was the highest point on US 101 (since superceded by the Redwood Freeway's summit in northern Humboldt County) so you could face winter snows to add to the hazards of narrow curvy highway.  The one redeeming feature of that spot was you could see the Siskiyous on a clear day from there.  Do not even think of driving your RV's on these roads if you are not used to driving on roads straight from before The Grapes of Wrath era!

Rick

[xonhulu]

That might explain why neither of these state highways has been marked with their route shields: the Powers Highway is designated OR 542 and the Carpenterville Highway is OR 255. 

But they're not the worst highways on the Oregon state highway system.  Many of the highways in the eastern part of the state, like OR 74 east of Heppner, OR 27's southern portion (which is gravel), OR 242 through McKenzie Pass, and OR 245 over Dooley Mountain, have the same problems or worse.  And there are some pretty winding sections on other otherwise good roads, like OR 34 east of Mary's Peak, US 20 west of OR 126, etc.

[MDOTFanFB]

My nomination is I-75 over the Rouge River in Detroit, MI, that extends to exit 44 to the north, in between there is a very dangerous curve. It is okay on clear days, but during storms, you may worry you will drive off the bridge. Trust me, that has happened before, a truck drove off and crashed into some houses in the Delray neighborhood below, killing the driver (I think that was 2-3 years ago). But however, it does provide you a nice view of Detroit's skyline heading NB, day or night.

[Tarkus]

That might explain why neither of these state highways has been marked with their route shields: the Powers Highway is designated OR 542 and the Carpenterville Highway is OR 255. 

But they're not the worst highways on the Oregon state highway system.  Many of the highways in the eastern part of the state, like OR 74 east of Heppner, OR 27's southern portion (which is gravel), OR 242 through McKenzie Pass, and OR 245 over Dooley Mountain, have the same problems or worse.  And there are some pretty winding sections on other otherwise good roads, like OR 34 east of Mary's Peak, US 20 west of OR 126, etc.

I can vouch for 242 (it was my #1 on the previous page).  I haven't driven those other ones (aside from having ridden on OR-34 by Mary's Peak--talk about whiplash!) but have just checked them out on Google Maps.  Compared to 242, 542 didn't look all that threatening.  A bit curvy, but it has shoulders and guardrails . . . it's kind of in the vein of OR-53, which isn't all that scary but is kind of a pain. 

27's gravel section looks like it's not terribly scary, but bad, definitely (they ought to consider moving the designation over to the far-nicer Millican Road).  74 does indeed look kinda hairy out of Heppner (as do nearby 206 and 207 from the looks of things).  245 looks like it's on the level of 242 . . . it's actually a good bit wider and has some gravel shoulders, but if you run off 242, you're more likely to hit a tree rather than fall off a cliff.  255 actually hasn't been StreetViewed, which to me is a sign that it must be quite gnarly.

A friend of mine from Florence also claimed that OR-36 was pretty horrific, and worse than 34 . . . maybe once the weather clears up a little bit, I'll have to check it out, since it's not that far from me right now.

[jas]

The PA posters would know this better then me, but, when I was driving for a courier company back in the early 90's, I too US 30 part of the way to Altoona instead of the PA Turnpike.  There is a section of RT 30 somewhere west of the Fort Loudon, (I believe), where you have to travel up the side of a mountain, and the elevation has to be around 1000ft.  I was using a delivery van, and due to the incline, I could not go faster than 25 MPH on the way up, and wouldn't want to go any faster than that on the way down, as one wrong move, and off the road you go.  That was the most nervous I have ever been driving in my life.

[kaothinterceptor]

My nomination is I-75 over the Rouge River in Detroit, MI, that extends to exit 44 to the north, in between there is a very dangerous curve. It is okay on clear days, but during storms, you may worry you will drive off the bridge. Trust me, that has happened before, a truck drove off and crashed into some houses in the Delray neighborhood below, killing the driver (I think that was 2-3 years ago). But however, it does provide you a nice view of Detroit's skyline heading NB, day or night.

I-75 has a lot of these stretches, you know.

Exits 67 and 69 in Michigan are my #10. The reason? Back-to-back 90 degree turns. The Rochester and Big Beaver curves even have exits on them!

Trust me, #9 is a lot scarier.

[PAHighways]

The PA posters would know this better then me, but, when I was driving for a courier company back in the early 90's, I too US 30 part of the way to Altoona instead of the PA Turnpike.  There is a section of RT 30 somewhere west of the Fort Loudon, (I believe), where you have to travel up the side of a mountain, and the elevation has to be around 1000ft.  I was using a delivery van, and due to the incline, I could not go faster than 25 MPH on the way up, and wouldn't want to go any faster than that on the way down, as one wrong move, and off the road you go.  That was the most nervous I have ever been driving in my life.

There are a couple of places along 30 where the ROW is narrow and windy like east of McConnellsburg and west of Schellsburg below where the Ship Hotel stood.

[MDOTFanFB]

Exits 67 and 69 in Michigan are my #10. The reason? Back-to-back 90 degree turns. The Rochester and Big Beaver curves even have exits on them!

Not to mention that the latter curve and exit is very inappropriate. Trust me, I drove these curves back in December when I was getting my very first freeway sign photos.

[kaothinterceptor]

Exits 67 and 69 in Michigan are my #10. The reason? Back-to-back 90 degree turns. The Rochester and Big Beaver curves even have exits on them!

Not to mention that the latter curve and exit is very inappropriate. Trust me, I drove these curves back in December when I was getting my very first freeway sign photos.

Oh, man. It's not just the curve and the exit number that are inappropriate... It's the name of the road for the exit as well!

#9: Only 16 miles to the south of Exit 67 is the Exit 51 complex in downtown Detroit. 51C (I-375) is really bad when you realize that you need to move over THREE LANES in 1/4 of a mile, and 51A is even worse: It's a blind exit that you don't see coming from the I-75/I-375 split until it's too late!

Next up: #8, and why there's a three-way tie at this point

[MDOTFanFB]

#9: Only 16 miles to the south of Exit 67 is the Exit 51 complex in downtown Detroit. 51C (I-375) is really bad when you realize that you need to move over THREE LANES in 1/4 of a mile, and 51A is even worse: It's a blind exit that you don't see coming from the I-75/I-375 split until it's too late!

On that same date, I was approaching that exit on I-75 southbound, I thought that my lane would make me continue on I-75, but I ended up on I-375 and somewhat clinched all of it. But luckily after driving down Jefferson Avenue and eventually M-10, I found my way back onto I-75.

[kaothinterceptor]

#9: Only 16 miles to the south of Exit 67 is the Exit 51 complex in downtown Detroit. 51C (I-375) is really bad when you realize that you need to move over THREE LANES in 1/4 of a mile, and 51A is even worse: It's a blind exit that you don't see coming from the I-75/I-375 split until it's too late!

On that same date, I was approaching that exit on I-75 southbound, I thought that my lane would make me continue on I-75, but I ended up on I-375 and somewhat clinched all of it. But luckily after driving down Jefferson Avenue and eventually M-10, I found my way back onto I-75.

Only a roadgeek would see it as a good thing.

#8) Exit 13 (I-696), Exit 216A (I-94) and Exit 208 (I-75 in Ohio): All three involve bridges and their own brand of scariness.

Exit 13 on I-696, Greenfield Rd., is at the end of one of the cut-and-cover sections of I-696, and is also on a slight curve. The fact that the exit ramp begins under the cut-and-cover section makes this not only a stupid exit, but a scary one for those with tall vehicles.

Exit 216A on I-94, the I-75/94 interchange is the scene of one of the worst accidents in southeastern Michigan. The bridge in this case is the ramp from NB I-75 to EB I-94, which was destroyed by a fire due to a truck jackknifing. The ramp from WB I-94 to SB I-75 is just as bad, as it's a sharp left turn and dumps you onto I-75 just north of #9 (the Exit 51 complex).

As for Exit 208 in Ohio, the SB I-75/SB I-280 interchange, the bridge in question is I-75 itself, as like in the case of #9, it's a left exit and three lanes need to be crossed.

Coming soon: #7: Yet another I-75 interchange with a left exit and multiple lanes to cross... This one's a doozy!

[MDOTFanFB]

As for Exit 208 in Ohio, the SB I-75/SB I-280 interchange, the bridge in question is I-75 itself, as like in the case of #9, it's a left exit and three lanes need to be crossed.

I travelled on that interchange back on the day after New Year's Day, though it was both between I-75 and I-280 and vice versa.

[ftballfan]

Also in Michigan, trying to get from eastbound I-96 to M-37/M-44 in Grand Rapids is scary. You have to cross two lanes of traffic merging from I-196 just to get onto the off-ramp.