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03-22-2010, 11:11 AM
| | | | The best & worst roads in the U.S.
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The best & worst roads in the U.S. http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspi...cle176005.html
Kansas, Wisconsin, and Montana topped the list of states with the best roads in the country. The findings are based on bridge conditions, amount of congestion, and fatality rate data gathered from the Federal Highway Administration.
Aside from ranking among the best, Montana also topped the deadliest roads list, which is compiled by measuring fatalities per 100 million miles driven. The list cites drunk drivers, reckless drivers, and lack of seat belt use as factors that make a road deadly. Louisiana and South Carolina followed the "Treasure State," ranking second and third on the deadliest roads list.
The lists are further broken down, with Montana, South Carolina, and Louisiana taking the top three spots for the "Top 10 Deadliest for DUI" list, and Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina ranking high on the "Top 10 Deadliest for Speeding" list.
California's Interstate 15, spanning from Barstow to the Nevada state line, was ranked as one of the worst roads in the country.
"You've got a lot of cross-country drivers who don't know where they're going mixing in with truck drivers and commuters who are in a hurry. It literally took my friends 13 hours to make the five-hour drive from Vegas on this road," Ginger Chan, a traffic reporter at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles said of the California Interstate.
Other treacherous stretches include Sunset Boulevard (between Hollywood and Beverly Hills), and almost every road in Pennsylvania.
Those looking to be easy riders should head to Kansas' I-70, ranked as America's best road. I-70 can thank flat, smooth roads, as well as breathtaking sunsets, for their lofty position.
Another path made more pleasurable by the scenery is I-40, which spans New Mexico and California.
"The sunsets out there are amazing," said Matt Boose, a trucker from Kansas. "Every color you could ever think of in the sky. It's not just the western sky lit up like in Kansas. It's the whole damn sky." |
03-22-2010, 11:13 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado | | | The definition of "best" and "worst' is highly subjective.
To me, the BEST roads are those with lots of twisty turns which are fun to drive. They are not the safest, but that's not one of my criteria. Some of my favorite "best" roads are in the mountains of Idaho, where you can really have fun with a car...and some of them include hairpins marked down to 15 MPH, which drive nicely around 40 MPH.
Oh my f'n god....they rate "I-35 through Kansas (and Kansas roads in general)" as among the best! GAG!
Driving through that area ONE TIME was enough to make my daughter swear never to do so again. Most boring drive in the US!
No offense to the good folks in KS and NE and other midwest spots, but the Interstate drives through there are enough to sour you on car travel for life.
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Last edited by Pilgrim : 03-22-2010 at 11:16 AM.
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03-22-2010, 12:02 PM
|  | Registered User
Moderator for EHX Forums | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Houston/Nacogdoches | | | Worst road I've ever dealt with in my life: FM 1960 in Houston.
Its not full of potholes or anything to make it a "technically inferior" road. Its the mass of idiots and a-holes along every inch of it.
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03-22-2010, 12:13 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: College Station, Texas | | | Houston probably has the highest stupid drivers per capita I've ever encountered. |
03-22-2010, 12:57 PM
|  | *******er Emeritus(does anyone remember that? No?) | | Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Houston, Texas | | Quote:
Originally Posted by McHaven  Worst road I've ever dealt with in my life: FM 1960 in Houston.
Its not full of potholes or anything to make it a "technically inferior" road. Its the mass of idiots and a-holes along every inch of it. |
FM 1960 is pretty bad, but I nominate Westheimer in the Galleria area as being our town's worst. You can sit in traffic for an hour and only move 100 yards, and when traffic starts opening up somebody hits you in the rear end, almost like it's required by law.
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03-22-2010, 01:17 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Boston | | | US-1 in Massachusetts. |
03-22-2010, 01:19 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Houston | | Quote:
Originally Posted by McHaven Worst road I've ever dealt with in my life: FM 1960 in Houston.
Its not full of potholes or anything to make it a "technically inferior" road. Its the mass of idiots and a-holes along every inch of it. | Yeah, I live 1/4 mile off it and pretty much avoid getting on it unless absolutely necessary.
Lots of support for Houston here. You'd think a city with 4 million people and no major mass transit system would top the list... |
03-22-2010, 02:10 PM
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Moderator for EHX Forums | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Houston/Nacogdoches | | Quote:
Originally Posted by need4mospd Yeah, I live 1/4 mile off it and pretty much avoid getting on it unless absolutely necessary.
Lots of support for Houston here. You'd think a city with 4 million people and no major mass transit system would top the list... | I live off Cutten and 1960, right past Willowbrook Mall. I'm less than 2 miles from the mall, but it would take me 20 minutes to get there anytime between 10am and 7pm.
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03-22-2010, 02:50 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Minnesota | | | minnesota has two seasons winter and road construction |
03-22-2010, 03:06 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: richmond.bc | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilgrim The definition of "best" and "worst' is highly subjective.
To me, the BEST roads are those with lots of twisty turns which are fun to drive. They are not the safest, but that's not one of my criteria. Some of my favorite "best" roads are in the mountains of Idaho, where you can really have fun with a car...and some of them include hairpins marked down to 15 MPH, which drive nicely around 40 MPH. | North Cascades Highway (Washington State 20) between Burlington and Okanogan is one of the great stretches of mountain road. Gotta hit it early in the season or early in the morning though otherwise you get stuck behind an endless string of RVs. |
03-22-2010, 03:09 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Las Vegas, Nv | | | I've made that drive from vegas to california. Have to hit it at the exact right time. If you leave before noon from vegas you might come out with a little traffic, but we try to get out by ten. If your coming from cali and you leave at noon, good luck.
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03-22-2010, 03:16 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Lake Charles, La. | | | I can believe Louisiana ranks in the top (?) 3 worst roads. I know very few adults that do not drink and drive. We even have drive thru daquari shops in South Louisiana. Couple the drinking with less than great roads and you have a thrill ride coming your way. Don't forget to throw the all important "texts" into the mix to get it really interesting.
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03-22-2010, 03:20 PM
|  | Life is Tough. Laugh more. Moderator | | Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Warwick, Rhode Island, USA | | | I refuse to believe that L'l Rhody is 40th on the Best list.
We have a bridge on I - 95 that can't handle tractor trailers
since it is disintegrating. There is a bridge on Rte 24 about to
fall into the bay, potholes EVERYWHERE, we roll more trucks
on the Thurbers Avenue curve than a a reggae band rolls bones,
and all summer there are construction crews with
one guy working, plus a cop or two.
Having driven from RI through NJ, I can say from personal
experience that roads in Jersey are much better, I don't care
what the brain trust says.
And the Mass guy is right, Rte 1, especially around Saugus,
blows.
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03-22-2010, 03:21 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Georgetown, Kentucky | | | hey, finally Kentucky's not in the top or bottom three (whichever one is the bad end of the list) of one of these lists!
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03-22-2010, 03:29 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: New Delhi, India | | | i know its off topic but the roads here are just too annoying. you are just going smoothly around 40-50mph and then suddenly the car in front of you dodges a damn poth hole but bam! you go right into it because its too late for you and your suspension just dies another time :-/
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03-22-2010, 04:05 PM
| | | | PA is pretty spot on. Our roads blow. I'd like to shoot the traffic engineers that designed the roads around Pittsburgh. They are a nightmare and this time of a year I think driving through Flanders in 1918 would be a smoother ride.
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Originally Posted by TrooperFarva Well, in fairness to the student, there can be only one. | |
03-22-2010, 04:16 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kansas City, Ks | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilgrim The definition of "best" and "worst' is highly subjective.
To me, the BEST roads are those with lots of twisty turns which are fun to drive. They are not the safest, but that's not one of my criteria. Some of my favorite "best" roads are in the mountains of Idaho, where you can really have fun with a car...and some of them include hairpins marked down to 15 MPH, which drive nicely around 40 MPH.
Oh my f'n god....they rate "I-35 through Kansas (and Kansas roads in general)" as among the best! GAG!
Driving through that area ONE TIME was enough to make my daughter swear never to do so again. Most boring drive in the US!
No offense to the good folks in KS and NE and other midwest spots, but the Interstate drives through there are enough to sour you on car travel for life. |
We may have a boring drive but you have the Bronco's so it's a wash, right?
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03-22-2010, 06:05 PM
|  | User | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: East Coast | | | The Pacific Coast Highway from San Luis Obispo past Carmel is the best road for me.
The Cross Bronx Expressway and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway are the worst.
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03-22-2010, 08:51 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Boston | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Thor I refuse to believe that L'l Rhody is 40th on the Best list.
We have a bridge on I - 95 that can't handle tractor trailers
since it is disintegrating. There is a bridge on Rte 24 about to
fall into the bay, potholes EVERYWHERE, we roll more trucks
on the Thurbers Avenue curve than a a reggae band rolls bones,
and all summer there are construction crews with
one guy working, plus a cop or two.
Having driven from RI through NJ, I can say from personal
experience that roads in Jersey are much better, I don't care
what the brain trust says.
te And the Mass guy is right, R1, especially around Saugus,
blows. | YES! That's exactly what I meant. Between the Kowloon and Prince Pizza is the worst. |
03-22-2010, 09:36 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado | | Quote:
Originally Posted by taquitos43 We may have a boring drive but you have the Bronco's so it's a wash, right? | Colorado has the Broncos - I have the Seahawks and the Packers. Just 'coz I live here doesn't mean I have to like the Broncos.
I actually enjoy long distance drives - but although the Great Plains has some great people and good things, interesting highway driving is NOT part of the deal.
The original article's 'best drives" might as well have been titled "Safest but Most Boring US Drives."
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