Best driving roads (state / province)

argatoga

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I think something similar has been posted but I can't find it, and this a bit more specific anyway.

What is the best roads to drive in your state, province, or small country. I'm looking for some roads in Washington, but I think this thread can be useful for others as well.

Also please don't turn this into a Tail of the Dragon thread, there are other roads out there.
 
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In Illinois there is not much, as virtually all the roads are T-square straight because of farmland. I would recommend highway 20 that goes from Rockford to Dubuque, or any road in rural Illinois that follows a river.

Where I grew up, in Wisconsin, the best driving roads are in the South West part of the state, near the Mississippi..."Coolee Country" as they are called.

Near my land in Northern Wisconsin I was surprised to find that a certain road is a haven for drivers; it's about ten miles long with three switch backs and the run has less than 500 feet of straight line...but I will never tell you what road that is. Gotta keep it a secret. ;)
 
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Bear Mountain and Hunter Mountain are pretty good. Locally there is Jackie Robinson Parkway (JRP) which is in Queens I think (I been there but I suck at county lines) there is also a short section on the Richmond Hill Rd in Staten Island, which is less than a mile long, horrible pavement but basically looks like Shomaru Pass from Initial D. I hear there are some nice roads in Connecticut and New Jersey but I'm not sure of where they are.
 
There are great roads pretty much anywhere in BC outside the cities. We have the Sea to Sky highway - once you're beyond the construction that lines the road up to Squamish, you're pretty much home-free in some great highways that run throughout the interior, and there's plenty down south as well. One of my favourite routes below, takes about 12-14 hours in the saddle, but well worth it, especially in the summer. The route runs through some of the hottest places in the NorthWest, so its a blast in the summer, and pretty much all the roads are in great shape, with tons of twisties, as the entire route goes through the Rockies/Coast Mountains/Cascades.


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You can get such huge variance in scenery here; all in the same trip, at the same time. On that route, you get a taste of it all:


From sweltering heat:

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to mountain wilderness:

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and freakin' glaciers:

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We gots it all.
 
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i live in yonkers so there isnt that much over there but up the taconic parkway passed mahopac it becomes 2 lanes and awesome! over these nice hills and great views. just one thing is there are alot of state troopers as i found out :[ just nearly escaping there radar detectors tho :D! but still an awesome road. ill be taking a nice day trip up as far as i can just to go hunting for some nice roads
 
Victoria has the great ocean road (built as a memorial to fallen soldiers of the first world war)

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Also dandenong ranges (these are my own photos from the cruise)

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On the Hawaiian island of Maui, there's the drive to the top of Haleakala which isn't really congested. The Road to Hana is much more of a tourist trap, but an absolutely gorgeous bit of road around the volcano.

I'm sure there's more people more affiliated with NorCal that can chime in, but when I was in San Francisco last year, there were some good roads just north of the city. Also, the drive to, and drive in, Yosemite National Park can be fun. I was in a rented Civic Hybrid, and I had an S2000 (which I own at home), came up and blew the doors off of me. At that moment I wish I had my baby there.

I live in relatively flat farm country, but there's a large river in my town the eventually ends up in Lake Erie. There's a road that is freshly paved that runs along this river, and there's a bit of road approximately 6 miles long that probably has approximately 50-60 curves, some of them sharp 90 degree ones, that is pretty fun. The blind crests are fun when you have a passenger that doesn't know what's going on. Lots of people die on this bit of back road (mainly because they are in shitboxes and think they are God's gift).
 
EErrrr, Michigan roads are terribly bland, i think thats why casual speeding is so well accepted. With that said i suppose i would be lying if i didn't admit i kind of am so used to all these basic 90 degree corners and straights that i actually figure ways of making them exciting, it just happens.
 
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Focking hell, guys! I definetly feel like moving to BC now!

The only crests and bumps we get over here come from potholes.

Quebec sucks....
 
A good short one that I am quite good at (I drove it nearly every day in the winter) is Mt. Seymour Rd. It's basically a dead end mountain highway that twists and turs up Mt. Seymour. It's quite popular with motorcyclists, adn it is never too busy during the summer, so it's easy to rip pretty fast. It ends pretty quickly though, I can do it in ~7 minutes in my Jeep (going up).

I cant' figure out how to post this as an image....
http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?clien...349506,-122.939415&spn=0.099303,0.233459&z=12
 
Here in Missouri about as far from St. Louis as it is from Columbia we've got this great bit of road:

8-12 miles of this entire drive are all that are "boring" but your brakes will enjoy those miles to cool down.
Google Maps Link

Then much closer to St. Louis we've got this section hidden off 94
Google Link

Route F From New Melle to Hwy 94 is a great drive as well.

The driving roads become a lot better and more plentiful the closer one gets to the Ozarks.
 
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How about in Central Florida? Anyone have any recommendations? :lol::idiot:
 
I generally run 94 to TT, and then T back to 94.
94 Loop

I'm still feeling out the other roads.

I can't recall the exact drive, but there are a good number of roads that come off of highway 100 from washington and spit you out at chesterfield airport that are fun. I've only done the drive once.

Do yourself a favor and try out the drive I mentioned (or at least fallow all of 94 out to hermann and drive J and F). When you hit highway F you'll be glad you did. By far the best section of 94 is the bit between Hwy U and Hwy B, it's completely different from the rest of 94.
 
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i live in yonkers so there isnt that much over there but up the taconic parkway passed mahopac it becomes 2 lanes and awesome!
The Taconic is great to drive on.

The National Scenic Byways Program already compiled what is probably the definitive list of great American driving roads:

http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/
Most of these look fairly incredible.

Three personal favorite driving roads (that I've actually driven more than once):

1. Panoramic Highway or Shoreline Highway from Mill Valley, CA to Stinson Beach. Redwoods, sharp corners and finally ocean. Incredible. Only minutes (without traffic) from downtown SF but there's shockingly little traffic. Also, Stinson Beach is just cool. Marin County is criss-crossed with fabulous driving roads.

2. Vermont Rt 108 over Mt Mansfield in Stowe via Smuggler's Notch. Absolutely gorgeous countryside gives way to a switchbacks up to a genuinely eerie mountain pass. Blasting downhill you emerge into the alpine fantasy of Stowe and enjoy some delicious Ben+ Jerry's. Actually, there's too many great Vermont driving roads to list here. It's a little known fact that Vermont = driving heaven. Great scenery, well maintained roads, lots of curves, great roadside food, no traffic, high speed limits and extremely cool cops.

3. San Juan Skyway from Ouray to Durango CO via Silverton. They don't call it the Million Dollar Highway for nothing. This is the old west meets the Alps. Incredible Rocky Mountain views, abandoned mining ghost towns, desert etc. It's got everything. There's a little bit of traffic in the summer, so do it in the fall. For more fun, keep going until you hit Mesa Verde.
 
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