micci@nvuxg.UUCP (D M Dennee) (10/28/85)
My nomination for the Worst road I've driven: Rt. 18 in NJ between New Brunswick and Old Bridge. Along the same lines as Rt. 22, with heavy trafic and tons of stores/malls on each side. Unfortunately, I have to travel this one 5 days a week! Best Road? Not one that anyone here as ever heard of. Just a little nicely paved, nicely scenic backroad in Upstate NY that I used to travel every day to high school! Micci Dennee Bellcore Red Bank, NJ
warren@ihwpt.UUCP (warren montgomery) (10/29/85)
I could strongly support the Beartooth Highway as a candidate. It's spectacular, generally in very good shape, and not very crowded. The only problems you have are snow (It's closed except for a couple months in the summer), and the high altitude, which some cars find very distasteful. Since this is supposed to be "in the world", I could also introduce an Italian candidate known as the Amalfi drive. This is where they film a lot of car chases for movies set in southern Europe. The drive is actually a collection of roads that wander along the coast of a peninsula just south of Naples. They are narrow and winding and wind among large villas with spectacular gardens, sheer cliffs, and towns with streets built for donkey carts. There are spectacular views of the Mediterranean everywhere. It's not a place for racing, but for staring at the scenery at a modest pace on an interesting road to drive on, it's hard to beat. As for worst, they have recently fixed two of my best US candidates. (Interstate 90, Cleveland to the NY line, which had deteriorated so badly that traffic was detoured onto local roads in several spots for years, and the Eisenhower expressway in Chicago, which features rush hour traffic 24 hours a day and until recently was also falling apart). There have been many other fine suggestions, but I think just on the basis of length, monotony, and consistent rottenness, I would nominate all of Interstate 80. This road goes through or near many of the industrial high spots of the east (Northern NJ, Scranton, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Gary Indiana), is constantly crowded with trucks, and as a result is constantly falling apart. It goes through 450 interminable miles of Nebraska, not to mention Iowa, Wyoming, and the deserts of Nevada and Utah. It somehow seems to get through the rockies without ever giving you much of a view of the mountains. It goes through areas of the west so bleak that they made towns and major tourist attractions out of gas stations with a lot of pumps! Sure, there are sections that aren't all bad, but for as a whole it's consistently awful. -- Warren Montgomery, ihesa!warren
seb@mtgzz.UUCP (s.e.badian) (10/30/85)
Oh, I have lots of best roads! And I have quite a few worst roads too. The Best (not in any particular order): 1. Rt 108 and Rt 100 on Vermont. Rt 108 runs through Smuggler's Notch. It is closed in the winter. Rt 100 runs through ski country - Stowe, Sugarbush, Killington. It's the best in the fall. What leaves! 2. Kancamangus Highway in New Hampshire. Did I spell that right? One of the most scenic highways in the US. A drive through the mountains of NH. Also incredible in the fall. 3. Rt 1 in California. The best ocean scenery to be found. Particularly impressive near Mendicino and Big Sur. Great fun to drive if cliffs don't bother you. 4. Rt 93 (? someone in the Bay Area may be able to correct me). Also called Woodside Rd down near Rt. 101. Winds through the very wealthy town of Woodside (don't speed!) where you should stop to get your pic- nic lunch at Richard's grocery. Starts climbing through the hills after Woodside - twisting, turning. What fun! It was a real blast in my husband's Rabbit GTI. Finally reaches the Pacific and Rt 1 at San Gregorio. Not so much fun if some slowpoke is in front of you. 5. The Icefields Parkway in Alberta, Canada. Runs between Banff and Jasper. Follows the Contintenal Divide. Mountain scenery doesn't get much better than this. And it's a pretty nice road too. Watch for wildlife. 6. The road through Zion Canyon, Utah. I think it has 8 hairpin turns. Not made for speed, but what scenery! 7. Hana Highway, Maui. A tiny road that clings to the cliffs above the Pacific and winds through the rainforest on the island of Maui. Also see Worst Roads. 8. Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana. Some more incredible mountain scenery, but the character is totally different from the Icefields Parkway through the Canadian Rockies. 9. The Tioga Rd in Yosemite National Park. Runs through the High Country in Yosemite. Impressive mountain scenery. Runs through the highest sub-alpine meadow in the Sierras. Get to see Half Dome from the other side. 10. Rt 70 from Grand Junction, Colorado to Salinas, Utah. I might get some argument on this one. A road through a desolute, eerie landscape of canyons, high-country deserts, buttes, and mountains. It is beautiful in its starkness. But make sure you leave Grand Junction with a full tank. It's 170 miles from Grand Junction to the next gas station! And the Worst! 1. Connecticut Turnpike. Even without the tolls it's a big pain in the ass since they haven't taken down the toll booths yet 2. The NJ Turnpike. Too many trucks going too fast. Too many other people going too slow. Nothing smells consistently worse than the stretch near Elizabeth. Except maybe 3. 3. The road past the landfills in Staten Island. Unfortunately the fastest way to get from Southern NJ to Brooklyn. 4. The Belt Parkway. Ugh! Terrifying! Little itty-bitty merge lanes into traffic going 55 mph. 5. Rt 101 near San Francisco and the Bay Bridge. Has the amazing ability to get jammed with cars for no apparent reason. What a mess. Ugly too. 6. Hana Highway, Maui. About a car and a half wide with a cliff to the ocean on one side, and a cliff up on the other. Hundreds of little bridges that are a car wide. Not well paved. 7. Rt 28 in Cape Cod around Hyannis and Yarmouth. Ugly and too much traffic. Unfortunately it's one of two main arteries on Cape Cod. 8. Rt 287 from Perth Amboy to Rt. 78, NJ. They used poor quality concrete on all the overpasses. Now they're filled with potholes big enough to swallow Volkswagens. Lanes disappear when they shouldn't. Now they're repaving all the bridges. Avoid at all costs! I don't want to stretch my credibility here, so I'll stop now. Living near NY means you have an almost infinite choice of worst roads. Sharon Badian ihnp4!mtgzz!seb