The Most Boring Stretches of Highway

[djsinco]

Alabama's I-65 from the big bridges north of Mobile up to Montgomery is torturous.  There is NOTHING on that road for about 150 miles or so.

....

The times I've been on that road I've set my cruise control at 90 mph (weather permitting) and I found I wasn't passing anyone.

It seems likely you didn't pass the police!

[1995hoo]

Alabama's I-65 from the big bridges north of Mobile up to Montgomery is torturous.  There is NOTHING on that road for about 150 miles or so.

....

The times I've been on that road I've set my cruise control at 90 mph (weather permitting) and I found I wasn't passing anyone.

It seems likely you didn't pass the police!

Not that I recall. Bear in mind, when I say "I wasn't passing anyone" I don't mean I had the road to myself–I just mean I was the slowest car on the road. (On a different trip in March 1997 going from Montgomery back to North Carolina via I-59 I set the cruise control at 100 and I did have the road to myself....except when a V-12 powered Mercedes went flying past.)

[Kacie Jane]

I-90 from Ellensburg to Spokane; Bozeman to Billings; Casper to Sioux Falls; Rochester to Madison.

I-94 from Billings to Alexandria; St. Cloud to St. Paul; Gary to Ann Arbor.

I-5 from Vancouver to Olympia.

I-84 from Hood River to Salt Lake City.

I-65 from Chicago to Indianapolis.

I'd start your I-84 section further east, as there's nothing boring about those mountains in eastern Oregon.  For I-5, I definitely agree with the Centralia/Chehalis area, but there's definitely something to be said for the area around Kalama where the freeway parallels the river.

And this one's personal, but I-90 near Moses Lake was the site of the most intense driving I've ever experienced, a sudden thunderstorm that required going about 25 mph until we pulled over on the shoulder along with about five other cars.

[leroys73]

   = Illinois I-70

[djsinco]

  = Illinois I-70

The first few miles headed east from the Poplar St. bridge are seldom dull...

[leroys73]

The exception

[cpzilliacus]

And this one's personal, but I-90 near Moses Lake was the site of the most intense driving I've ever experienced, a sudden thunderstorm that required going about 25 mph until we pulled over on the shoulder along with about five other cars.

I had a similar experience once on I-95 in Florida between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. 

An incredibly intense downpour from a sudden thunderstorm cell flooded the freeway with (what seemed like) a foot of water in about 30 seconds.

[agentsteel53]

Not that I recall. Bear in mind, when I say "I wasn't passing anyone" I don't mean I had the road to myself–I just mean I was the slowest car on the road. (On a different trip in March 1997 going from Montgomery back to North Carolina via I-59 I set the cruise control at 100 and I did have the road to myself....except when a V-12 powered Mercedes went flying past.)

I wonder where Alabama seems to have gotten its reputation as a speeder haven.

one of the fastest cars I ever saw on a public road in the US was in 2009: a Dodge Viper passed me, quite likely up against the governor at 155mph.  definitely bat-out-of-hell speed.  this was on I-10, about 30 miles before the Alabama state line in Mississippi.

not too long thereafter, just over the state line, I saw him pulled over by the side of the road.  one Mississippi state trooper, four Alabama state troopers.

[kphoger]

Hmmm, bet he got a ticket.....

[silverback1065]

Hey there.

I was reading the "I-64 in Indiana" thread, and it had me thinking...about the opposite.

The Indiana portion of I-64 is said to be the one of the most beautiful experiences in interstate driving. However, there are stretches that, personally, makes me want to say, "Please end this."

Two great examples here: the stretch on I-65 between U.S. 231 in Crown Point and Indianapolis (with minor exception in Lafayette) is just open field and not much else. It has been tempered a bit by the wind turbines installed north of Lafayette in 2009, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

The stretch of I-55 from I-80 to I-74 in Illinois is just death. There's absolutely nothing going on. The only fun there is if you somehow drive alongside an Amtrak train coasting along the tracks that sit just east of the highway.

What examples do you have? Share them here. I thank you for your time.

Add US 52 from 65 to Lafayette, it parallels 65 and is equally boring! I use it often to get to Purdue.

[texaskdog]

I-94 across North Dakota is God-awful.  Used to always take the slightly longer I-90 across South Dakota for better scenery.

[agentsteel53]

I-94 across North Dakota is God-awful.  Used to always take the slightly longer I-90 across South Dakota for better scenery.

I did it once in the middle of the night, and took as much of old US-10 as I could find back the next day.

[txstateends]

The entire stretch of I-70 in Illinois is pretty boring. There's hardly anything to look at (including very few billboards).

There's that giant cross in Effingham.

Yep... I got a picture of that as I was driving. Did you know there's also a similar cross like that on I-40 in the Texas Panhandle (somewhere east of Amarillo)?

The tall panhandle cross is in Groom.

One road that I find excruciating is the rural sections of TX 19.  My dad liked it for some reason, later my mother thought it was a great way to go to take my grandmother to my aunt's house.  Fortunately, since adulthood, there are other/better ways to take for me than TX 19.

IIRR, the only time I've been on TX 87 in SE TX, there are many long boring parts to it also.

[relaxok]

I don't have any experience driving in the plains states, so... I will say that on my trip from New England to Atlanta, I-81 through Virginia was a total snoozefest.

[signalman]

I don't have any experience driving in the plains states, so... I will say that on my trip from New England to Atlanta, I-81 through Virginia was a total snoozefest.

I wouldn't call I-81 through Virginia a snoozefest.  Infact, quite the opposite.  More like a stressfest.

[Sonic99]

How I-5 from the bottom of the Grapevine to the turnoff for San Francisco/Oakland isn't on here is just beyond me. You could literally get to the I-5/US99 split for Bakersfield, set the cruise for 80-ish, lock the steering straight, and take a 4 hour nap. It was the most horrendous drive I've ever done. And I wasn't even driving. What made it worse was that on both sides of you are mountain ranges (especially west), and you KNOW that there is some amazing driving happening JUST to your left (heading north) with the Pacific Coast Highway (CA 1), but you are stuck in Boresville USA for 4 hours.

[texaskdog]

I-94 across North Dakota is God-awful.  Used to always take the slightly longer I-90 across South Dakota for better scenery.

I did it once in the middle of the night, and took as much of old US-10 as I could find back the next day.

There is a giant cow about halfway across.  It is the only interesting thing you'll see after the badlands.

[NE2]

How I-5 from the bottom of the Grapevine to the turnoff for San Francisco/Oakland isn't on here is just beyond me.

Somehow that part of I-5 is a state scenic route. I've never been on it, so I can't personally call bullshit.

[agentsteel53]

there are some fairly scenic sections of I-5, as it approaches and bounces off the hills.  that said, there's also hundreds upon hundreds of trucks, and CA-33 is right there for an actually interesting alternative.

[kkt]

How I-5 from the bottom of the Grapevine to the turnoff for San Francisco/Oakland isn't on here is just beyond me. You could literally get to the I-5/US99 split for Bakersfield, set the cruise for 80-ish, lock the steering straight, and take a 4 hour nap. It was the most horrendous drive I've ever done. And I wasn't even driving. What made it worse was that on both sides of you are mountain ranges (especially west), and you KNOW that there is some amazing driving happening JUST to your left (heading north) with the Pacific Coast Highway (CA 1), but you are stuck in Boresville USA for 4 hours.

Um... it is on the list:

I-5 from Woodland to Red Bluff and Los Banos to Wheeler Ridge and Eugene to Tigard

[kphoger]

You could literally get to the I-5/US99 split for Bakersfield, set the cruise for 80-ish, lock the steering straight, and take a 4 hour nap.

[emphasis added] [no crap]

And I bet you would literally die if you did that.   

[Alps]

I-94 across North Dakota is God-awful.  Used to always take the slightly longer I-90 across South Dakota for better scenery.

I did it once in the middle of the night, and took as much of old US-10 as I could find back the next day.

There is a giant cow about halfway across.  It is the only interesting thing you'll see after the badlands.

It's also about halfway across on old US 10, which is an infinitely more interesting road than I-94.

[agentsteel53]

It's also about halfway across on old US 10, which is an infinitely more interesting road than I-94.

astonishingly, I do not remember that.  where is it?

[Thing 342]

As a frequent traveller between Hampton Roads and Columbia, SC, I nominate I-20 between Florence and Columbia. There is zero along that stretch that interests me, mostly just trees, weeds, and insanely loud pavement.

[Interstatefan78]

What about California's I-5 in the Central valley farms mostly throughout except Stockton and Sacramento which are cities that I-5 goes through in the central valley or US-101 from San Miguel to Salinas which are farmlands that run along the Salinas River Valley