# The most boring stretch of highway is ... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537 "2009-01-02T01:16:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/21 "2009-01-02T02:40:02Z")
I-5 between the Altamont Pass and the Grapevine. Those windmills in Livermore are the last interesting thing you’ll see (southbound) for the next couple hundred miles. Unless you’re really interested in lettuce fields. It’s true that taking CA-1 adds a couple hours to the trip, but it’s approximately 5 trillion times more scenic. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/22 "2009-01-02T02:43:44Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Can we just agree that it’s I-70? > > 70 between Indy and Columbus is enough to make one pray for the sweet release of death. We could, other than that I-70 from Denver over to most of Colorado’s western Slope is breathtaking. I’d vote for I-80 from Omaha to, well, Reno. (Other than the Summit east of Laramie.) And I-10 through West Texas is right up there. I won’t vote for any of those 20 mile stretches back east… if the boredom doesn’t last for at least a full day or two’s drive, it’s too puny to count. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/23 "2009-01-02T02:53:03Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Fourthed, but I’m going to stand up for Missouri here. When I drove across on I-70 on my way from PA to CA I did at least get to stop at the Winston Churchill Museum, which was certainly a highlight of the trip I can definitely support that highlight! If you’ll indulge me a moment to brag, my father was the structural engineer responsible for making the [memorial section of the Berlin Wall](http://www.churchillmemorial.org/highlights/breakthrough/dedication.html) in front of the Memorial and Library (considered “the most important monument to be constructed on American soil since the Vietnam War Memorial”) stand up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/24 "2009-01-02T02:54:25Z")
Route 31 in Oman from Muscat to Salalah… about 1000km with only two tiny settlements of any significance. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/25 "2009-01-02T02:58:09Z")
Route 80 across Wyoming. Not even many towns to break the monotony. I-15 going south in Utah gets pretty dull between Provo and St. George. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/26 "2009-01-02T03:07:58Z")
I’d say I-16 from Macon to Savannah. All it is trees and more trees. There is hardly any traffic most of the time too. ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/27 "2009-01-02T03:22:34Z")
I-74 between Indy and Cincinnati is pretty boring as well. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/28 "2009-01-02T03:25:18Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Fourthed… > > I-70 through Kansas… Fiz-iffed! I live in BFE Nevada, and this stretch of road didn’t interest me. If it weren’t for rain and hail, I’d have fallen asleep and crashed…_into nothing!_ ---
**Author:** ![bubba\_jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@bubba\_jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba_jr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/29 "2009-01-02T03:40:40Z")
I’ve driven through every state in this country except Kentucky and Hawaii(just for fun when gas was cheap) and the worst, I-80 coming from Nevada toward salt lake, its not even the pretty kind of boring, drab, flat, straight, ugly and boring. At least on 40 you know you are going to hit Amarillo, get a good steak(a really really big one) and find a titty bar with real women (not glorified skeletons). 10 to 20 El Paso towards Dallas is pretty crappy too, except they supposedly raised the speed limit to 80, which means you can now do 115 instead of 110 which lowers the boredom a bit I guess. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/30 "2009-01-02T03:46:21Z")
I-70 & I-80 across any of the midwestern states (how many friggin’ cornfields can there possibly be) I-10 across any of the southern states I-55 from Chicago to St Louis If you’re looking for a short drive that will place you into a quick coma - 288 between Houston & Freeport If timing allows, I take my life in my own hands and travel the 2 lanes. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/31 "2009-01-02T03:55:02Z")
> [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > I-74 between Indy and Cincinnati is pretty boring as well. And I-74 between Bloomington and Indy. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/32 "2009-01-02T03:58:09Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > And I-74 between Bloomington and Indy. It doesn’t get any better between Bloomington and the Quad Cities ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/33 "2009-01-02T03:59:50Z")
I-57 between Champaign and I-80. Absolutely nothing to see, but it’s only about an hour and a half. However I’ve driven it roughly a bajillion times so it grates. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/34 "2009-01-02T04:13:46Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > I have to disagree with this one. Sure, there’s “nothing” for about 400 miles, but it can be some really [beautiful](http://www.photolalia.net/2007/09/loneliest-road-in-america.html)nothing… Well, your link refers to Hwy 50, not I-80. However, the stretch of I-80 that I found stultifyingly boring was further east, from the Utah border to the mountains around Salt Lake City, which passes through the Bonneville Salt Flats. And then there’s I-5 from Redding south to Sacramento. Not quite as dull as I-80, but there is a lot of truck traffic and nothing to look at, so it’s both boring and a chore. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![AdmiralCrunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@AdmiralCrunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdmiralCrunch)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/35 "2009-01-02T04:18:29Z")
Dallas to El Paso along I-20 to I-10. Everything just dies and you start praying to see wind farms. 600 miles of nothing. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/36 "2009-01-02T04:27:04Z")
Lancaster, CA to Edwards Air Force base. The vast expanse of all the dry lake beds is quite monotonous. But the Joshua trees are nice to look at. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/37 "2009-01-02T04:29:10Z")
Whatever highway it was that Led Zeppelin wrote Kashmir about. (it wasn’t in Kashmir either, it was in Morroco.) I’ll second or third I-40 between the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico and the Texas border, though at least when you get into Texas you can see grain elevators. (After 270 miles of nothing grain elevators start to seem interesting.) ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/38 "2009-01-02T04:34:29Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > I-57 between Champaign and I-80. Absolutely nothing to see, but it’s only about an hour and a half. However I’ve driven it roughly a bajillion times so it grates. I was going to say I-80 across Iowa, but I know exactly where you are talking about, and God yes, it is the most boring hour and a half ever. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/39 "2009-01-02T04:38:50Z")
Best things Omaha has going for it - you’re no longer driving across Iowa or Nebraska when you get there ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537/40 "2009-01-02T04:58:59Z")
> [@SharkB8](#): > > I-95 across the entire state of Connecticut. I wouldn’t say it’s boring - a lot more varied scenery than some of the other candidates here - but I agree that it somehow bends reality so that it packs roughly twice the length of the state into its lanes. Friggin’ annoying drive and I’m always ready for Massachusetts by the time I reach Hartford. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-stretch-of-highway-is/479537.md?page=3)