Sam would probably agree with me on this - Rt. 22 in the North Country can be both scary and desolate. Middle of nowhere with trees tight to the shoulder and plenty of twists after you hit Whitehall.
Another super scary NY road? Plank Road/Rensselaer County Road 40. Twists, turns, super steep in many places. Takes a lot of engines and brakes going both up and down. Several instances of brakes just giving up on the Plank (named as such because it used to be a dirt road with wood planks across it for traction). There was even a disaster in Berlin, NY back in the 60's when a propane tanker was coming down the steepest part of the Plank, the brakes just gave up the ghost, and it crashed into the western part of town (then the most-populated area, just off Main St) and exploded... killed at least 10 and probably destroyed 2 dozen homes.
Rochester Interstates 390/490 and 490/590 Interchanges are particularly bad, only because people are exceedingly stupid on them (and there are exits whose on-ramps onto any of the highways merge into the off-ramp to get onto the other highway... i.e. 490 westbound on-ramp from Penfield Road/Rt 441 merges directly into the 490 to 590N interchange ramp... those cars from 441 usually want to continue 490 west so they have to merge left and onto 490 across all the 490/590 traffic merging right.)
Favorite road? The Great Lakes Seaway Trail. Easy drive, lots of great lake views, reasonably well-maintained roads. The best part is the Lake Ontario State Parkway between 390 and Buffalo. Great to speed on.
Edit: And that's just New York! I love/hate so many roads elsewhere in the NE and Mid Atlantic that I just can't pick what to say about which one!
[last edit 6/10/2010 1:34 PM by velcrozeppelin - edited 1 times] Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
Living here in the Adirondack Park of New York State, every road has the capacity to be both fun AND scary. Just in my little corner of Essex County, we have several roads that must scare the shit out of people who mistakenly get off at the 'wrong' exit in the middle of the night. There are signs at Exit 26 Northbound and Exit 35 Southbound on I-87 that warn:
LIMITED-NO CELLPHONE SERVICE NEXT 75 MILES LIMITED 24 HOUR FUEL SERVICES NEXT 75 MILES
and people still don't get off and get gas. They get off at Exits 29 (north Hudson) where there is nothing. They get off at Exit 30 (Keene Valley) where there is nothing. They get off at Exit 31 (westport/elizabethtown) where this a gas station, but ridiculously overpriced AND closed after 8pm. I used to keep gas cans on my porch to sell to Canadians and New Jersey schmucks that couldn't read a road sign.
Anyways, roads that I most love, in no particular order:
NY Route 22 between Ticonderoga and Whitehall NY- 27 miles of no one around, wide open straight aways and corners that you can take at 140+ mph in a competent car.
Tracy Road- just off of Exit 30/US Route 9 8 miles of twists and turns in the middle of nowhere. Very much fun in a competent car. Here, it's referred to as 'my house' and no one will race me over it.
(the only video i have of this road in my Cobalt SS/SC... the camera sucked, too much wind noise from my window being down, but at least you can make out how much fun the road actually is) better video I found on youtube of some guys on bikes rocking this road:
Ensign Pond/Black Brook Road- runs from US Route 9 in North Hudson NY to Moriah Center NY. 11 miles of twists, turns, and mad elevation changes
Vermont Route 17 near Buels Gore/Mad River Glen- it's something right out of Initial D on either side of the mountain. You lose your game on either side of the mountain and you're gone.
New York Route 86 between Jay and Wilmington Notch NY Cliffside driving, close guard rails, nice corners... drive it fast.
Scary: I haven't found one yet. Scary for my wife, the passenger: A good number of them. Especially any of the rural highways in southwestern Ireland (2-lane, blind turns every 200 yards or so, no shoulder, 80kph limit... SO fun). Favourite: See above.
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel
22 down that way is getting crazy this week Sam. Especially at night and it being Americade Bike Week in Lake George.
Coworker's been stopped twice this week down that way, once on the way home and on the way to work. Once in a 2010 BMW M3, the other in a 2002 Nissan.
Guess which one he got the speeding ticket in?
"The best wine lies at the bottom of the pail/And Happiness lies below the navel." - Drukpa Kunley, "The Divine Madman of the Dragon Lineage" and "Saint of 5,000 Women".
Posted by Samurai Pick a road in the greater Montreal area for terror and damage to a car.
I know I have heard the horror stories from you, Nismo, Nostra, maZe, and even HerbLaur, but when I did Montreal back during OPEX 95, I didn't think they were THAT bad. They reminded of the the roads in Boston.
i lowered my VW the night before my road trip to montreal, and my VW was low, tucking all around. i mashed my skid plate everywhere. good thing it was steel and not one of those aluminum ones. it took a beating
Blueridge Pkwy in VA. Beautiful and very twisty. Just don't hit a road biker!
More specifically (and with less traffic and patrolman) Goose Creek Valley Rd outside Buchanan VA. It's well paved for how isolated it is and very very twisty. I always thought it would be a great candidate for a hillclimb since it goes up and over a mountain. I usually scare myself a little bit on this road
It's marked Rt. 43/Parkway Drive before it passes under the Blueridge Pkwy
Ethics
I used to keep gas cans on my porch to sell to Canadians and New Jersey schmucks that couldn't read a road sign.
