Remotest/little used major road in your state?

[texaskdog]

I'm in Texas and I drove TX-54 from the Guadlupe Mountains to Van Horn.  Passed a total of 6 cars in a stretch of 55 miles on a very boring drive around noon in August 2002. 

[NE2]

Doesn't sound like a major road.

[Quillz]

Do you define "major road" to be any signed state route?

[SteveG1988]

NJ 70/72/Southern end of Garden State Parkway in Nov/Dec around the holidays. Once the tourist season ends those roads become ghost roads. particularly the parkway south of atlantic city.

I had to head to cape may several times between thanksgiving and early Dec (aunt had to come up for thanksgiving, and then i had to help her move) and i saw barely any cars, even on a weekday on the parkway before christmas.

Another Runner Up would probably be NJ Route 35 during the off season as well.

[agentsteel53]

I-15 in Arizona is very remote, serving maybe 99% interstate traffic.  It does not connect to any other state-maintained route, as old US-91 is a county route.

[Fleetwood Mac Attack]

From VDOT's traffic counts:
Least-traveled interstate segment: I-64 in Allegheny County (near West Virginia state line)

[realjd]

Florida's a big state, but I'll bet SR-9336 down in the Everglades is one of the least used state highways.

[Scott5114]

OK 325 up in the panhandle is pretty remote. OK 87 down in the SE corner of the state is pretty dead, too.

[3467]

I would suggest focusing on Interstates,US routes and NHS routes because only 800,000 miles of 3-4 million miles of roadway carry more than 400vpd so most roads are very low volume and many states have very very low volmee state routes
This stat is from the book Road Ecology.
There are also about the same number of Interstate,US and State numbered highways
Traffic volmes on most of the US routes and NHS routes downstate range form under 1000 to 10,000 but are mostly in the 3-8000 range. In Chicago the arterial range is 10,000 to 60,000

[sandiaman]

Geez,  there  are  so  many  little used roads  here,  but from a    state  highway  standard, NM12  is  a lightly used road, so much so that if you drive on  it people in oncoming cars  will wave  at you!  Maybe this is a new catergory  "the friendliest  road."    US  60  in western NM  and on into AZ  has hardly any traffic  on it,  so little traffic that it  can be a problem  finding gas stations on it.  The last time I was  in  Pie Town on US 60   both the cafes  that gave the town its  name were  closed up.

[Quillz]

I'd take a guess and say CA-266 is probably one of the more lightly traveled state routes. Only about 10 miles in length, begins and ends at the Nevada border, and its only connection to the rest of the state is via CA-168.

[agentsteel53]

I've noted frequent waving on US-50 in Nevada (considered the Loneliest Road) and US-6 (even lonelier, actually).  US-93 is similar in behavior, though not quite as lonely as 6.

in California, it may be 58 across the pass between McKittrick and Santa Margarita which has the lowest volume of any state route.  but don't quote me on that - I had just been glancing through a 1995 list with all segments of all state routes, and the "25 vpd" number on a particular segment of 58 jumped out at me.

[jemacedo9]

I-476 PA Turnpike NE Extension, north of the Dupont I-81 exit to the end at Clarks Summit...most people probably take the free option of I-81 around Scranton. 

[xcellntbuy]

Florida's a big state, but I'll bet SR-9336 down in the Everglades is one of the least used state highways.

In concert with FL 9336 is FL 905 which has the tolled ($1) Card Sound Bridge from the mainland to Upper Key Largo.  Overwhelmingly, traffic prefers US 1, the Overseas Highway which is free.

[ftballfan]

I-75 north of Bay City, possibly excepting the Mackinac Bridge.
US-2, US-41 (especially north of Houghton-Hancock), and US-45 in the western Upper Peninsula.

[golden eagle]

U.S. 49 in Mississippi from Yazoo City to Silver City is quite remote in certain stretches.

[NE2]

Florida's a big state, but I'll bet SR-9336 down in the Everglades is one of the least used state highways.

In concert with FL 9336 is FL 905 which has the tolled ($1) Card Sound Bridge from the mainland to Upper Key Largo.  Overwhelmingly, traffic prefers US 1, the Overseas Highway which is free.

905 is a county road.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

U.S. 49 in Mississippi from Yazoo City to Silver City is quite remote in certain stretches.

I was thinking of I-59, when it's not being used as an hurricane evacuation route.

[huskeroadgeek]

Not in my state, but I once traveled US 350 in Colorado and passed about 4 or 5 other vehicles. One of the loneliest stretches of "major" road I've ever been on.

[berberry]

Here in Mississippi, I'd nominate US 61.  I remember during the Katrina evacuation that people using that highway got to Vicksburg HOURS before anyone coming up I-55.  It's still not a well-known route, yet it's four-laned from Vicksburg to Baton Rouge, except for a short segment at Port Gibson.  Going north from Vicksburg it's four-laned to Redwood, then two-laned to Leland, four-laned to Memphis.  The two-laned segment is particularly little-used, and it's delta flatland so you can see for miles, making it a viable option when travelling from here to Memphis - particularly if one likes to stay mostly away from large trucks.

[nexus73]

Speaking of remote, there's a hamlet called Remote on SR 42 in Oregon.  However the traffic through Remote, which has a small stretch of 4-lanes for passing just west of it, has a good amount of traffic so it's not so remote after all...LOL!

An Oregon joke:  Why is Oregon so wet?  Because it only has one Drain!  That's the town where 38, 99 and a former segment of 99, which has since been demoted to a county road, meet up.  At least Drain isn't Boring!  (another small Oregon town up by PDX)

Rick

[xonhulu]

Speaking of remote, there's a hamlet called Remote on SR 42 in Oregon.  However the traffic through Remote, which has a small stretch of 4-lanes for passing just west of it, has a good amount of traffic so it's not so remote after all...LOL!

There's also a hamlet called Hamlet, up near the junction of US 26 and OR 53.  It was literally named because it was a hamlet, not as a reference to Shakespeare.

An Oregon joke:  Why is Oregon so wet?  Because it only has one Drain!  That's the town where 38, 99 and a former segment of 99, which has since been demoted to a county road, meet up.  At least Drain isn't Boring!  (another small Oregon town up by PDX)

Why is Oregon so windy?  Because California sucks and Washington blows!  Please don't hurt yourselves laughing . . .

[vdeane]

NY 12 north of Alexandria Bay is very little traveled outside of tourist season.

I doubt NY 812 south of Gouverneur (when not multiplexed with anything) sees much is the way of any traffic ever.

[xcellntbuy]

Originally from this area, another quiet road is the Columbia County, New York section of the Taconic State Parkway from Jackson Corners Road (Columbia Co. 2/Dutchess Co. 78) to the Thruway's Berkshire Spur Exit B2.  "Deer Crossing" signs are to be respected with the wide grassy and often wooded median and the completely rural setting of the area.

[bulldog1979]

I-75 north of Bay City, possibly excepting the Mackinac Bridge.
US-2, US-41 (especially north of Houghton-Hancock), and US-45 in the western Upper Peninsula.

I will dispute your first three examples. A majority of the northbound Mackinac Bridge traffic turns off onto US 2. In fact, US 2 has so much traffic on it (relatively speaking) that I use M-123 to connect to M-28 to head home to Marquette County. US 41/M-28 is very heavily trafficked as well. I-75 north of Bay City may not be as busy as it is in the Detroit area, but it's hardly "little used" or "remote".

US 45 on the other hand, or US 141 north of Crystal Falls aren't going to have a ton of traffic. US 141 through there doesn't really run through any place of any population or join a larger traffic corridor together.