Your favorite non-major US routes

[kphoger]

36 in Kansas is gorgeous. The only problem is once you get to Colorado there's nothing and there's no easy way off of it.

Having grown up along US-36 in western Kansas.....yuck.

I'm the first to correct people when they say Kansas scenery is boring, but US-36 is not an example I would use in my defense (I've only driven it from the Colorado line to P-burg).  I'd suggest almost any intersecting state highway over US-36 itself.  I actually prefer US-36 in Colorado, but only slightly, and mainly for reasons of nostalgia.  Back in the late 1990s, US-36 in Colorado was in such poor repair that it was nearly impossible to avoid the potholes, even by swerving into the other lane every few seconds.

Another favorite of mine from southern Illinois:  US-51 from Dongola to Carbondale

[agentsteel53]

one of my absolute favorite drives ever was US-36 from US-77 to approximately Denver.

here's Marysville.



these cutouts in St. Francis didn't hurt the route's cause either...




(gone as of 2009, btw.)

[kkt]

I'd call this one major.

I respectfully disagree.  Most of U.S. 17 in Virginia is remarkably free of traffic (including the long segment between Newport News and Fredericksburg). 

It is pretty busy between Fredericksburg and I-66 at Marshall, only because it serves as a de facto Outer Beltway for traffic wanting to avoid the often severely congested highways around Northern Virginia.

Illustrating the problem of what constitutes "major" for this question.  Original U.S. route?  Ends in 0 or 1?  Lots of traffic?  High speed limits?  Long route?

[Sykotyk]

To me, major were the ones that 'stood out by themselves as a thru route'. US101, US99 (now CA-99/OR-99, etc), US95, US395, US287, US54, US2, US17, etc.

But, then again, that generally meant not parallel to an interstate route.

Then again, parts of a road could be major (US287 from Limon to Fort Worth), while US287 north of Laramie, WY could be seen as 'minor' the rest of the way (same with southeast of the Dallas area). US54 may be a major road from Wichita, KS to Tucumcari, NM (or, even El Paso in terms of travel accommodations) but US54 east/north of Wichita could be seen as a minor road.

[thenetwork]

Personally, I loved driving all of the x01 routes through the Carolinas when I used to live out that way.  The scenery, the smell of pines, the small towns, and passing by houses in which nearly everyone sitting on a porch would wave to you as you go by, even though no one knew the other.

[roadman65]

To me, major were the ones that 'stood out by themselves as a thru route'. US101, US99 (now CA-99/OR-99, etc), US95, US395, US287, US54, US2, US17, etc.

But, then again, that generally meant not parallel to an interstate route.

Then again, parts of a road could be major (US287 from Limon to Fort Worth), while US287 north of Laramie, WY could be seen as 'minor' the rest of the way (same with southeast of the Dallas area). US54 may be a major road from Wichita, KS to Tucumcari, NM (or, even El Paso in terms of travel accommodations) but US54 east/north of Wichita could be seen as a minor road.

You know, maybe we should look at the ones that have the most accommodations to tell us which is major?  If a road is not traveled much or used by locals, would not have much as commercial developments.