# Weirdest road you’ve ever been on **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098 "2024-09-11T00:07:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Old\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecccb3/32.png) [@Old\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Wench)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/41 "2024-09-15T23:08:52Z")
When my brother worked for PennDOT years ago, he told me that unusual speed limits like that are intended to catch your attention because they’re non-standard. I don’t know if it’s true but it makes some sense. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/42 "2024-09-16T00:43:52Z")
We had the (dubious) idea to bike from Madison, WI to the Wisconsin State Fair. The Glacial Drumlin Trail is beautiful, and we were pedaling through tunnels of greenery, with trees bending over the gravel path to form kind of a cathedral roof. It hooked up with other bike paths, and then… it just stopped. In the middle of a golf course. We had to find a service road through a parking lot and then turn onto an extremely congested “main drag”, with no bike lane or even a parking lane. Quite the contrast from an idyllic, safe ride to a scary one, as trucks and aggressive SUVs flew past, inches from our handlebars. . https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211sAF1QipNZHZvl5SKRAECcif%212m2%211d43.012514%212d-88.0642358%213f13.77%214f6.817%215f0.75 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/43 "2024-09-16T01:19:19Z")
I-70 eastbound into Denver, after coming over the top of the Rockies. TRUCKERS, GEAR DOWN. STEEP DOWNHILL AHEAD. Then, a couple of miles later, TRUCKERS, AGAIN, GEAR DOWN. Then, a couple of miles after that, TRUCKERS, WE’RE NOT KIDDING! And the Colorado DOT wasn’t. It was a steep downhill, and there were plenty of runaway lanes for out-of-control trucks. I was driving a car, but I still had to smile at the “We’re not kidding” overhead sign. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/44 "2024-09-16T02:21:18Z")
Do we count the Singing Highway near Tijeras, New Mexico? [We were on it in February.](https://www.roadunraveled.com/blog/singing-road-route-66-new-mexico/) ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/45 "2024-09-16T03:54:31Z")
I have been up Canton Avenue, the steepest street in the United States and, arguably, the world, with a maximum grade of 37%. It felt like my car was going to flip over backward. If you recline your seat enough your head will be lower than the rest of your body. More locally, there was a dirt road that led out to a farm, and there was a bridge that the PA Turnpike presumably built so that the farm owner could access his fields on the other side. When they rebuilt that section they eliminated the bridge and so the road terminates at the farm and a wall of stone. However, the road is still marked on maps as existing on the other side so it’s a road with two parts that have the same name but are no longer connected. That’s not exactly uncommon, but given the weird nature of it to begin with it’s pretty uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/46 "2024-09-16T12:03:48Z")
**I-75** is a major interstate that goes from Michigan to Florida. It does something weird in Cincinnati: the median between the northbound and southbound lanes is so large that a village was built in the median. It has homes, schools, churches, etc. The village is called Arlington Heights. But when I lived in Cincinnati we affectionally called it “Medianville.” (A Google search, though, shows the split itself is apparently called the “Lockland Split.”) [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53999420854_cb23fd191c_w.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53999420854_cb23fd191c_w.jpg) Another interesting fact about **I-75** : in Dayton, it crosses over the Great Miami River **five times** in less than five miles. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/47 "2024-09-16T12:29:34Z")
A guy I knew was shot in the face while hunting. He was tangled up in brush, forcing his way through and a kid hunting rabbits with his dad shot him, mistaking him for a rabbit. Long story short, he could hear the kid screaming and his dad telling him they had to get out of there. They took off and were never caught. He survived but was blinded. He could see light/dark edges though. He and his wife owned a camper in a campsite with a road running through it. They had a golf cart that he would drive to the little store. I rode with him (he drove) to the store and all his friends there would yell, “hey, watch where you’re going, are you blind?” The road had signage declaring speed limit 100, and watch out for blind drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/48 "2024-09-16T19:24:09Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > ….Another interesting fact about **I-75** : in Dayton, it crosses over the Great Miami River **five times** in less than five miles…. This brings back a memory of driving a small country road in Belgium, where quite a few times in a couple of miles the road crossed a small stream. Thing is, that stream was the border between Flanders and Wallonia, two regions of Belgium that really don’t mix linguistically at all. One side of the stream all signage was in Dutch; the other side was entirely in French. Including all town names. A very disconcerting drive. (I imagine that it’s not that uncommon in Belgium; but it’s the only time it’s happened to us). j ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/49 "2024-09-16T20:46:46Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I have been up Canton Avenue, the steepest street in the United States On that note, I guess the famous section of Lombard Street in San Francisco with the switchbacks probably counts as a “weird road”. I’ve never actually driven down Lombard Street, but I have walked it. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/50 "2024-09-16T22:28:57Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > **I-75** is a major interstate that goes from Michigan to Florida. It does something weird in Cincinnati: the median between the northbound and southbound lanes is so large that a village was built in the median. It has homes, schools, churches, etc. Don Mills Road in Toronto has an area colloquially called “The Peanut” between the northbound and southbound lanes; it contains a school and a shopping plaza. [https://neptis.org/publications/chapters/peanut-city-toronto-1960-80](https://neptis.org/publications/chapters/peanut-city-toronto-1960-80) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/51 "2024-09-16T22:40:54Z")
On California’s I-5 just north of Castaic on the outer outskirts of metro SoCal there’s a 4-mile section of I5 traversing a steep grade (“Grapevine”) where the two sides of the highway cross over and you’re driving on the left half of the highway while the half going the other way is off to your right by up to ~1/2mi. So not only split, but crossed over. There’s not much built between the two sides of the highway; just a usually-dry riverbed and a small road. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/52 "2024-09-17T00:41:24Z")
I wish I could remember exactly where this road was to confirm my memory, but once when I was visiting a friend near Sherbrooke Québec we were wandering around and ended up on a dead-end road. The unusual part was that the road appeared to curve to the left, but was actually coming to a point, with the two sidewalks or curbs meeting. The illusion from the other end of the road really made it look like it curved and continued. I’ve tried searching in Google maps and this [road kind of fits the description](827 Rue Sainte-Marie [https://maps.app.goo.gl/JFGoCTCLfAvdsZs26?g\_st=ac](https://maps.app.goo.gl/JFGoCTCLfAvdsZs26?g_st=ac))), but the effect is not nearly as dramatic as I remember it. It’s possible that I’m misremembering it, just haven’t found it yet, or it’s since been developed. We were rather drunk and it’s probably been 25 years. Who knows if it was real or imagined? ETA I have no idea how to fix that link. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/53 "2024-09-17T01:25:58Z")
It still works as you’ve posted it, but here it is all pretty: **[827 Rue Sainte-Marie](https://maps.app.goo.gl/JFGoCTCLfAvdsZs26?g_st=ac)**. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/54 "2024-09-17T01:47:40Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > Any road that has an “uneven” speed limit sign. Like 9, 13, 27 mph. Years ago there was a 16 mph speed limit sign near Newport Beach CA. It’s not all that weird, but it was scary – the Lippincott Lead Mind Road. We got snowed in in Saline Valley, and the “good” road in/out was blocked, So, we decided to take the only alternative – the aforementioned Lippincott Lead Mine Road. It was dark (full dark by the time we got to the summit), narrow, dirt, and heavily rutted. And the other vehicle with us didn’t have 4WD, so we had to tow them. I was sweating bullets, but we made it up and then down into Death Valley. Where the same storm that had snowed us in had done a number on DV. I’d never seen so much water there ever. An eventful trip. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/55 "2024-09-17T02:11:02Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > There was a road in central NJ, a 4 lane highway (but not an interstate). I recall taking it a couple of times, more or less by accident. It made a huge curve to the right, as the 4 lanes became 2…and eventually became a dead end. I just tried to find it but had no luck. Sounds a bit like the Route 206 bypass in Hillsborough during one of the many pauses in construction. They finally finished that phase so it doesn’t end like that. Due to all of the legends the weirdest road is Clinton Road. I don’t think it’s haunted but it is very creepy at night. > **[Clinton Road (New Jersey)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Road_(New_Jersey))** > > Clinton Road is located in West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. It runs in a generally north–south direction, beginning at Route 23 near Newfoundland and running roughly 10 mi (16 km) to its northern terminus at Upper Greenwood Lake. > The road and the land around it have gained notoriety over the years as an area rife with many legends of paranormal occurrences such as sightings of ghosts, strange creatures, and gatherings of witches, Satanists, and the Ku Klux Klan. It is ... ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/56 "2024-09-17T03:06:05Z")
There is one little stretch of road which is one of my favorite scenic routes. It’s also kind of weird. Heading north out of the river town of Milford NJ there is a road that starts off named River Rd and becomes Rieglesville Rd. The road follows the Delaware River. On the left side is the river and an old abandoned railroad track. On the right side there is a sheer cliff. Along the cliff there several small waterfalls. A few times the cliff intrudes on the road and it suddenly goes to one lane and you have to rely on the politeness of other drivers to get past. The weirdest part is if you look up into the cliffs you can see cacti growing. You don’t expect to see any cactus growing in New Jersey but the prickly pear cactus is a native species. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/57 "2024-09-18T02:32:56Z")
Thank you! I used the link maker in the app, and it typically works without issues, so I don’t know what I inserted or deleted or otherwise did to confuse the app. I’m not entirely convinced that’s the right street, but I might never find it. The area of town we were in was to meet up with a friend of a friend and I’m not in touch with any of those people anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/58 "2024-09-18T08:15:05Z")
Two roads There’s a one way road near me that passes a McDonald’s, and then when you exit the McDonald’s you literally have to follow the same road onto the onramp of a freeway, you can’t exit the McDonald’s without legally then having to go on a freeway, which means you have to drive about 2 miles and leaving the city limits before getting onto the next offramp to turn around and go back and take another one way road to go the opposite direction of the McDonald’s to make your way back home. You basically have to drive the wrong direction in a one way street for 10 feet to cross into an adjoining street if you want to leave the McDonald’s without also leaving the city limits. In Paris I had to return a rental car at Charles DeGaulle airport which took me to a one way off-ramp into an oval area where my GPS kept telling me to drive an infinite amount of circles around and around with no real way to leave. Apparently whoever designed the airport thought everybody going into the area was there to leave a rental car and thus would have no reason to actually leave,. except you know if the rental car place was closed and you couldn’t actually return the car, nor leave. So trying to leave the GPS just kept circling me around the perimeter. To actually leave you had to cross into a side street that was labeled NO ENTRANCE - BUSES ONLY which then you drove a short distance back onto the street that lead back to the main airport street. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/59 "2024-09-18T11:07:33Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There’s a one way road near me that passes a McDonald’s, and then when you exit the McDonald’s you literally have to follow the same road onto the onramp of a freeway, you can’t exit the McDonald’s without legally then having to go on a freeway, which means you have to drive about 2 miles and leaving the city limits before getting onto the next offramp to turn around and go back and take another one way road to go the opposite direction of the McDonald’s to make your way back home. You basically have to drive the wrong direction in a one way street for 10 feet to cross into an adjoining street if you want to leave the McDonald’s without also leaving the city limits. One-way so-called “access roads” that parallel freeways are common as dirt in much of the country. And they’re often lined with businesses on the right side while the left side abuts the freeway with periodic on- and off-ramps. And every mile or three, a cross street / over / underpass where you can reverse direction onto the opposing access road. Or turn onto that cross street and proceed away from the freeway more or less at 90 degrees. What you describe seems totally ordinary to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098/60 "2024-09-18T17:17:16Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > On that note, I guess the famous section of Lombard Street in San Francisco with the switchbacks probably counts as a “weird road”. I’ve never actually driven down Lombard Street, but I have walked it. I did drive down Lombard Street on a trip to San Francisco about 20 years ago. I guess it was a bucket list kind of thing - how can you visit SF and _not_ drive down Lombard St? I think we did walk it too, the day before. I just remember thinking that I would hate to live in one of the houses on that block. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-road-you-ve-ever-been-on/1007098.md?page=4)