Southern Tier Interstate-highway segments: your experience?

[stevey]

Hi All,
After a mighty fine Western Express + TransAm self-supported tour this summer, this old tandem team is thinking of the Southern Tier for next year, W-E, probably in the fall.
In the first 3 maps, there are quite a few segments on Interstate highways.
Anyone who's done the ST recently:
What was your experience on these Interstate sections?
Was it annoying or dangerous-feeling enough to be a big negative factor in the route?
Or no big deal?
Did you find any alternative routes to any of those segments?
Thanks!

[John Nelson]

I do not have any experience on the ST interstates, but I do on other interstates, and they are pretty much all the same. On the positive side, the shoulders are almost always wide. Truckers usually move to the left lane to give you more room (and save you from the gust of wind that hits you when they pass). Interstates are almost always flatter and shorter than the alternatives. There are exactly the services (food, water, lodging) you need at almost every exit.

On the negative side, the shoulders are usually full of debris, especially those exploded truck tires whose tiny wires will puncture your tires. On a few interstate shoulders, they put those annoying crosswise rumble strips that are difficult to avoid. It's usually noisy. And last but not least, nothing interesting ever happens on the interstate, and face it, interesting things happening are one of the biggest reasons we tour.

[CMajernik]

For ST Section 1, maps 5-15, there is a discussion about this topic. Go to https://forums.adventurecycling.org/index.php?topic=16752.0
There is no interstate riding on Sections 2 or 3.

Or did you mean maps 1 - 3 on Section 1? On map 2 there is a 3.5 miles on I-8, and on map 3 there is 10 miles on I-8. On both of these, there are no other roads to use, so that's why we routed cyclists on the interstate.

[stevey]

For ST Section 1, maps 5-15, there is a discussion about this topic. Go to https://forums.adventurecycling.org/index.php?topic=16752.0
There is no interstate riding on Sections 2 or 3.
Or did you mean maps 1 - 3 on Section 1?

Ya, sorry, I meant Sections, the first three entire multi-map sections. You're right about in Interstate in Section 2; I misremembered. There is definitely Interstate in Section 3: Maps 37, 38, 39 and 40 all have I-10 segments. So it's those and the ones in Section 1, I'm asking about.
We've ridden on big busy 4-6 lane highways many times (Highway 50 east out of Pueblo comes to mind), but not many limited-access Interstates.

[staehpj1]

None of the interstate on the ST was bad IMO.  As far as debris on the shoulder I recall it being less of an issue than in othe places I rode on interstate.

I will say that the daylight hours are much shorter in the late Fall when it has cooled off enough to be pleasant than at a similar time in the late winter or Spring.  I don't mind a bit of chilly weather and found mid Feb. through mid Mar. a nice time.

[CMajernik]

Yes, you're right about section 3. I didn't look closely enough at the map. Sorry about that.

[stevey]

None of the interstate on the ST was bad IMO.  As far as debris on the shoulder I recall it being less of an issue than in othe places I rode on interstate. I will say that the daylight hours are much shorter in the late Fall when it has cooled off enough to be pleasant than at a similar time in the late winter or Spring.  I don't mind a bit of chilly weather and found mid Feb. through mid Mar. a nice time.

All good to know. Thanks!
I'm slowly making my way through the maps at my desk, zooming in with satellite views and such.

[staehpj1]

My personal opinion, but if doing it again I might ride a lot more on US90.  I rode US 90 more than the AC route used as it was.  I might even look into picking it up in Van Horn TX and riding it all the way to the east coast.