The Most Boring Stretches of Highway

[Rainking75]

I'm going to clinch I-8 next month on a trip from San Diego to Tucson. Looking forward to it!

[Zzonkmiles]

I recently drove that dead stretch of nothingness that is I-20 between Atlanta and Augusta. It's not nearly so bad if you drive it late at night and can't see anything. Yeesh.

[Thing 342]

I recently drove that dead stretch of nothingness that is I-20 between Atlanta and Augusta. It's not nearly so bad if you drive it late at night and can't see anything. Yeesh.

Heck, most of I-20 west of Atlanta can fall under this category. There is absolutely nothing along the way save for Augusta and Columbia.

[jbnv]

Hell pull up a map of the Cuyamaca Mountains, Imperial Valley and anything along the Luke Air Force Range because you'll find old alignments if you look hard enough.

They're quite visible on Mapquest. (Pulled it up and looked for it just for fun.)

[cl94]

Someone probably mentioned this, but I-90 between the NY/PA state line and Utica takes the cake. With the exception of the free section and the rock cut just east of Exit 48, it is all the same. Up/down a small hill, farms or forests on both sides, etc. People are known to fall asleep in the stretch between Syracuse and Rochester due to the flatness and lack of curves. US 23 in Ohio is pretty dreadful, along with I-70 and I-71 outside of urban areas in the same state.

[bugo]

One more that I was bored on the first time was westbound I-40 between Knoxville and Nashville, TN.  That highway just seemed to go on and on and on and on and....



Mike

You're high.  That's a beautiful drive.

[bugo]

I-40 doesn't go through Little Rock or Fort Smith.

[bugo]

The most boring road I've ever been on is OK 45.  Miles and miles of nothing.  The only, and I mean ONLY redeeming part of this road is that it inexplicably hops onto US 281 and plexes with it to Waynoka, where it just ends.

[The Nature Boy]

Someone probably mentioned this, but I-90 between the NY/PA state line and Utica takes the cake. With the exception of the free section and the rock cut just east of Exit 48, it is all the same. Up/down a small hill, farms or forests on both sides, etc. People are known to fall asleep in the stretch between Syracuse and Rochester due to the flatness and lack of curves. US 23 in Ohio is pretty dreadful, along with I-70 and I-71 outside of urban areas in the same state.

I will co-sign all of this. The I-90 stretch of the NY Thruway is the most dreadfully boring drive that one can imagine. For Ohio, I'll also add I-77, the whole thing.

I-95 through the Carolinas is also pretty bad. Nothing but trees and fields.

[Zzonkmiles]

Someone probably mentioned this, but I-90 between the NY/PA state line and Utica takes the cake. With the exception of the free section and the rock cut just east of Exit 48, it is all the same. Up/down a small hill, farms or forests on both sides, etc. People are known to fall asleep in the stretch between Syracuse and Rochester due to the flatness and lack of curves. US 23 in Ohio is pretty dreadful, along with I-70 and I-71 outside of urban areas in the same state.

For Ohio, I'll also add I-77, the whole thing.

I-95 through the Carolinas is also pretty bad. Nothing but trees and fields.

I've driven almost all of I-77 in Ohio except for the extreme northern part north of Akron. Maybe because I'm not from Ohio, the whole road was interesting to me. The terrain gets increasingly hilly as you go south, so that provides a bit of a break from the monotony.

As for I-95, I will agree that the NC stretch is kinda boring and frustrating to drive, but that's mainly because there are only 4 lanes the whole way. But at least there's enough traffic to keep things interesting.

I-95 in South Carolina is just long and boring because there are NO major cities located anywhere along the route. But the changes in terrain (swamps) can keep things a bit more interesting.

[Thing 342]

Whenever I'm making my bimonthly trip to Columbia I actively try to avoid using I-95 between Richmond and Florence. The only thing worth seeing along that stretch is the South of the Border tourist trap, which gets a whole lot less magical when you go inside and realize that it's basically a vanilla beach shop with a dingy motel and broken carnival rides.  Unfortunately, the people I travel with demand we take the absolute fastest way there, which is invariably I-95.

[Zzonkmiles]

Whenever I'm making my bimonthly trip to Columbia I actively try to avoid using I-95 between Richmond and Florence. The only thing worth seeing along that stretch is the South of the Border tourist trap, which gets a whole lot less magical when you go inside and realize that it's basically a vanilla beach shop with a dingy motel and broken carnival rides.  Unfortunately, the people I travel with demand we take the absolute fastest way there, which is invariably I-95.

Why not take I-95 to 85 to 77? I think it's only about 10 miles longer or so, but it's much more driveable that way. There are more stretches of road that have at least 6 lanes, and because you drive through actual cities, there's a bit more variety in terms of scenery and places to eat. I think there's even an Ikea in Charlotte right off I-85 at maybe Exit 46 or so that would keep your spouse and kids happy!

[texaskdog]

We just drove from Necedah Wisconsin to Pell City Alabama. WHY IS I-39 IN ILLINOIS SO BORING?  Then we took I-74 to US-41 to Evansville.  The rest was boring too but I-39 was God awful.

[Brandon]

We just drove from Necedah Wisconsin to Pell City Alabama. WHY IS I-39 IN ILLINOIS SO BORING?  Then we took I-74 to US-41 to Evansville.  The rest was boring too but I-39 was God awful.

I-39 boring?  Sure, it's flat, but it's green.  There's all sorts of stuff along the road there: barns, houses, fields of soybeans, corn, sometimes hay or straw.  Then there's the Illinois River Valley (with the bridge) and the wind farm up by Paw Paw.  Further north it passes through the Kishwaukee River Valley going through rock cuts both north and south of the river (yes, I said rock cuts, in Illinois).

[geocachingpirate]

US 70 between Kinston and New Bern.   

[allniter89]

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.

If you're driving north on I-81, I agree with you. it seems to be taking forever, but if you are driving south on I-81, that's different. It seems like traffic is going faster when it goes south instead of north.

gravity?? 

[Arkansastravelguy]

I'm driving 81 next week. The southern part is nice but north of Roanoke it gets boring. It's pretty at first but then it's the same thing and it goes on forever. Just like 81 in PA


iPhone

[OCGuy81]

Thought of another one worthy of nominating, but it's been years since I've driven it.

I-65 from Gary, IN through basically ALL of Indiana.

Very flat, boring stretch of highway with a few strip malls and travel plazas every few exits. ZzzzzzzZ.

[agentsteel53]

I-40 doesn't go through Little Rock or Fort Smith.

it serves both.

I wonder why this is one of your hangups. 

[agentsteel53]

I-39 boring?  Sure, it's flat, but it's green.  There's all sorts of stuff along the road there: barns, houses, fields of soybeans, corn, sometimes hay or straw.  Then there's the Illinois River Valley (with the bridge) and the wind farm up by Paw Paw.  Further north it passes through the Kishwaukee River Valley going through rock cuts both north and south of the river (yes, I said rock cuts, in Illinois).

and you can experience all those on old US-51 (mostly signed as IL-251, IIRC).  I agree that 39 isn't all that interesting in Illinois.  it's like I-80 in Nebraska: infinitely more boring than the US-30 which runs very close to it.

[bugo]

I-40 doesn't go through Little Rock or Fort Smith.

it serves both.

I wonder why this is one of your hangups. 

Because it bips.

[Brandon]

I-40 doesn't go through Little Rock or Fort Smith.

it serves both.

I wonder why this is one of your hangups. 

I get why I-40 doesn't go directly through Little Rock.  I-30 does, and I-430, I-630, and I-440 all serve or go through Little Rock.  Why doesn't I-40 go closer to Fort Smith?  Terrain?

[bugo]

why doesn't I-40 go closer to Fort Smith?  Terrain?

For one thing, it would have to cross the river twice.

[Arkansastravelguy]

why doesn't I-40 go closer to Fort Smith?  Terrain?

For one thing, it would have to cross the river twice.

Why doesn't a woodchuck chuck wood? Because it has a spur route. There are a lot of cities where an interstate skims the edge of a city. I don't think 5 miles is very far from Ft Smith.


iPhone

[SteveG1988]

While driving here are my boring roads, for trucking.

I-55 in Arkansas is bad, but hey...the sudden decay in pavement coming from the north makes it fun, particularly when the suspension on the semi attempts to keep up, I-55 has a much much worse segment.... Manchac Swamp Bridge outside New Orleans, just 23 miles of overpass with occasional high level segments. I felt like time ran backwards on that crossing.

I-57 can get really boring, really shows ya the heartland tho. The cairo bridge is nice.

SOme roads would be boring if not for their odd design quirks, like the indiana toll road, i used to think the PA turnpike sucked, until i drove both in a semi...the PA turnpike has sane design decisions at times, indiana just seems to have a just let it decay and not tweak it mentality.