Author Topic: Most dangerous roads  (Read 47546 times)

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Offline John Nettles

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Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #15 on: September 04, 2024, 11:11:36 pm »
There were very attractive women from Russia.
I got a chuckle how this is part of the "Most Dangerous Roads" thread  :D

Offline mattdwyerva

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #16 on: September 05, 2024, 10:48:06 am »
I did not like sections of US 56 in Kansas that had no shoulders.  Commercial truckers we're cautious and gave us room, but cattle trucks were inches away - very hard to hold a line when cross wind from the right.

US101 in Oregon was not as bad as I was told, except lots of bridges (and one tunnel) with little to no shoulder, all on curvy sections.   This was weekdays, and I'm told weekends are far worse on 101.

Rt 9 North of Hartsel CO was bad.  191 South of Old Faithful was scary in the afternoon, especially on descents. 

In all cases, volume of traffic is big part of the equation.  If we rode "off" hours (eg, very early on weekends), no big deal usually. 

I don't think we rode any of these in the rain, and going west bound avoided sun in the eyes of drivers, so it could have been worse. 


Offline nlansner

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #17 on: October 30, 2024, 09:46:07 am »
Logging trucks in New Brunswick, CA for me.

BikeFreak, I am DIYing a route for February to go through both Joshua Tree NP and Death Valley NP.  Will involve going northbound on US-395 for a significant stretch between Adelanto and Ridgecrest.  How bad was it there?

Offline Westinghouse

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #18 on: November 09, 2024, 12:11:26 pm »
If you are talking internationally I'd mention most any road in India as just plain scary on a bike and give honorable mention to most any road in Southeast Asia, possibly excepting Malaysia.

That goes quadruple !!! Extra quadruple !!! for roads in Ukraine in 1994. I am ready to publish my book, "The Last Great Bicycling Tour." It has numerous vivid detailed descriptions of road conditions in Czech, Poland and Ukraine in 1994.

Offline OHRider

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #19 on: November 10, 2024, 10:22:22 am »
Arizona- Rt 238 Maricopa Rd from 9th Avenue to Maricopa
We rode this on the Southern Tier as a way to get to a friend's house in Chandler AZ.  It was a beautiful road from Gila Bend until we hit the intersection at 9th Ave.  The garbage dump for seemingly all of the Phoenix metro area is located just north.  There is no shoulder and we had a continuous convoy of 18 wheelers with trailers in both directions.  There was really no room if they were crossing each other where we were so we had to bail off the road several times.  I had a Garmin radar so I rode in the back and when we had an overtaking truck I'd yell "TRUCK" and we'd get off the road.

My companion had ridden cross country several times and he said this was the first time he would have been willing to take a ride.  I agree!

Offline Mark Manley

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #20 on: November 14, 2024, 12:01:55 pm »
If you are talking internationally I'd mention most any road in India as just plain scary on a bike and give honorable mention to most any road in Southeast Asia, possibly excepting Malaysia.

You beat me to it, I will say some rural roads in southern India can be reasonably quiet but main roads, cities and the north in general are as you say, I don't think that drivers are deliberately aggressive it is just that as a cyclist you are further down the food chain and expected to get out of the way.

Offline Westinghouse

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #21 on: December 02, 2024, 09:30:27 am »
If you are talking internationally I'd mention most any road in India as just plain scary on a bike and give honorable mention to most any road in Southeast Asia, possibly excepting Malaysia.

You beat me to it, I will say some rural roads in southern India can be reasonably quiet but main roads, cities and the north in general are as you say, I don't think that drivers are deliberately aggressive it is just that as a cyclist you are further down the food chain and expected to get out of the way.

The book on bicycle adventure travel, Miles From Nowhere, gives detailed descriptions of long-distance bicycle touring in India. All the details concur with the advice against cycling in India in this thread on this forum.

Offline Westinghouse

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #22 on: December 19, 2024, 09:30:20 am »
Usually I feel I am able to cycle most roads.
Usually I can adjust my schedule to fit low traffic times.
"Usually" does not apply to the Gallatin Canyon Road - US 191.
Nobody in their right mind should EVER cycle this road.

The traffic is insane from before sunrise to after sunset.
The speed limit is 60 mph - which few drivers obey.
There are rarely any shoulders and the road edge is poor.
The Montana DOT has done little to nothing to improve safety.
(Other than flashing signs that say "Please Drive Safely".)

The number of crosses on the roadside was sobering - at every curve.
And the number of huge dents in the guardrails were the lucky ones.
There was little time to enjoy the canyon - I loved it back in 1987.
I pulled off into a few campgrounds to restore my nerves -
but my psychic energy was completely drained.


Those conditions creep slowly into the central nervous system. It takes a while for the stress to set. Crosses, skid marks, dents and shrines and big burned rectangles where cars incinerated. Crazy people in New Orleans uncontrolled by other traffic deliberately swerving toward you to within an inch. Cars with illegally modified exhausts appropriately described as psychotronic weapons clearly audible at three miles that vibrate and shake and shiver your internal organs every time they come near. Wide roads with wide side paths suddenly turning to narrow, two-lane death traps with no side lane at all and fast insane traffic. 

Offline rootchopper

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #23 on: January 23, 2025, 07:48:11 pm »
Oregon State Route 126 between Eugene and Belknap Springs was crazy. Loads of double dump trucks and logging trucks and not a lot of room for bikes on the shoulder. When coming from McKenzie Pass the heavy traffic is a real shock to the system because the road over the pass does not allow trucks. It may be the most peaceful stretch of road I've ever ridden.

The stretch of the Trans Am between Counsel VA and Berea KY wouldn't be half bad (brutal climbs notwithstanding) but the waves of dogs make it pretty dangerous. Also on the TransAm the descent from the Blue Ridge to Vesuvius in the Shenandoah Valley is insanely steep and windy. Even with disc brakes this is dangerous. Locals advise using Irish Creek Road (to the south of the TransAm) which is a more gradual descent and connects with the ACA route closer to Lexington.

The Atlantic Coast Route through Prince William County going around Quantico Marine base last summer was quite scary because of streams of dump trucks going to the site of a data center under construction. There is no shoulder in long stretches. To their credit the drivers were careful.)

Coming into Pittsburgh on the Erie Connector Spur (part of the Underground Railroad route) is also a hairy experience. I did it on a Sunday and the traffic was insane.



Offline Westinghouse

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2025, 12:58:09 pm »
As noted, bicycle touring can be stressful at times and in some areas. It is not a picnic. Nobody promises a rose garden. It can be challenging weatherwise, traffickwise and otherwise. There were trips when I cycled across the continent like a breeze and without a care or a concern. There were times I seriously questioned my own sanity for getting myself caught out in remote places in lightning storms with heavy rain and high winds and thousands of bolts of deadly electricity thundering and cracking and slamming to earth all around me. Hey, if it were all that simple and easy to cycle across the continent, then why do it? Some people need challenging adventures. Not everyone wants to stay home and hide under the bed.

Offline PeteJack

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #25 on: February 05, 2025, 02:24:18 pm »
"caught out in remote places in lightning storms with heavy rain" One of the most exciting parts of the Northern Tier for me was seeing the lightning flash across the whole horizon in Montana in just such weather. I eventually cowered in a gas station market (there was nowhere else to shelter) for about an hour until it eased up. But that lightning was spectacular!

Offline Westinghouse

Re: Most dangerous roads
« Reply #26 on: February 08, 2025, 11:30:50 pm »
"caught out in remote places in lightning storms with heavy rain" One of the most exciting parts of the Northern Tier for me was seeing the lightning flash across the whole horizon in Montana in just such weather. I eventually cowered in a gas station market (there was nowhere else to shelter) for about an hour until it eased up. But that lightning was spectacular!

Lightning on the horizon is fine so long as it stays there. When it is crackling and exploding and slamming to earth all around, and turns dark night to brighter than broad daylight, that is a life or death situation. When, at the same time, wind is blowing heavy rain parallel to the road at 70 mph and bringing all traffic to a dead halt and pushing trucks over on their sides it is nothing at all like exciting. When an animal you see is killed instantly by lightning 50 feet away, to me it is mortifying and extremely scary. If I go on a long bicycle tour again, a top priority will be to check weather forecasts regularly every day.
« Last Edit: Today at 01:03:35 am by Westinghouse »