Most dangerous routes.

I love out west and running the mountain passes. I find more scary places in the east.
Hwy 64 east of Cleveland, TN running through the Ocoee National Forest. There are two curves on it where the cliffs are right at the white line and you have to go around two tight 180 degree curves blindly. Cross the line and a cliff catches the side of your trailer. All you can do is yell on the CB that you are approaching and hope another 18 isn't there to meet you.

Hwy 119 out of Pineville KY is pretty hairy. I been on some gravel roads up there where your trailer tires are inches from a couple hundred foot drop going around corners.

Another one I remember is Hwy 103 in northern Arkansas. You go around them mountain curves, you can check your seal as you hang the cliffs. I had to drop to second gear there to pull that mountain.

 

Umm... been riding PERFORMANCE BIKES for some time, so I APPRECIATE your advice, and the REAL DANGER lies in WINDBLOWN SAND in that same NECK OF THE DESERT, with killer hairpin curves offering a NICE WASHOUT for FRONT TIRES, even if they're DUNLOPS, "10-FO'?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" But I digress... I came here to see whether my friend "SAMMYCAT" left word for me regarding my elderly mom---got sidetracked scrolling downward, but NOW I'M ON IT!!!

 

For me, it's the opposite - it's not the mountain passes that are dangerous, it's the flatlands.

When I'm going down Donner, Cabbage, Siskyou, Happy Jack, Wolf Creek, or any mountain pass, I'm ready - I've stopped and checked the brakes, checked the tires, taken a walk around the truck not only to make sure it's ready, but to also get my circulation going. I'm alert, attentive, and ready should something go wrong.

But the flatlands are different. It's late evening, I'll be crusin' across I-70 east out of Denver, I-94 in North Dakota, - someplace where there isn't a lot of traffic. I've got the baseball game on, and I'm kicked back, kinda drivin'... kinda lettin' my mind wander and follow the ballgame... not really focused on driving the truck.

Then when something happens - something as innocuous as having a motorcycle with loud straight pipes pass by - it'll scare the Bejeezus out of me, because I haven't been paying attention to the road as I should.

It's when I'm lulled into a false sense of complacency that I'm most dangerous!

 

Here is something I don't say often, I agree with you. Its not the weather some much as the situation. I drive alot of late night early morning desert miles. Most of the trucks are off parked in the Emergency Parking zones, sleeping.... Little if any traffic, boring talk radio, no one on the cb...... You start losing miles, wanrder around your lane a bit. This I think is more dangerous than running up to Wyoming or Idaho. Simply because in bad weather I stay more alert, more to watch and keep your attention... Its the safe conditions that are most dangerous..

 

Got a few more... Us 50 from Eastern Colorado to Kinsley, Ks. Wind blown. I-10 east of Van horn to Junction, boring, makes ya sleepy. Saw me a few wrecks on that part of the road. There are more, just can't think of them right now.

 

Um, LaVeta is only 7% max grade, but it's deceiving. Try LaVeta EB with marginal jakes # 76,000 lbs

I find Wolf Creek to be more hype then anything else. If your paying attention, it's no worse then driving on any other road. Your also talking CO145 from Cortez to Telluride and CO62 from Placerville to Ridgeway. It's narrow, but not too bad, absolutely a scenic route though, especially that stretch from Dolores to Telluride.

I've run 90 in the winter and summer, luckily whenever I have there hasn't been much snow on the road, but I did catch some decent ice on it this past winter between Columbus and Livingston, not enough for chains, but I felt it slip a few times. the route through Dinosaur, US40 or CO139/64 from I-70 to Dinosaur? US40 can be amusing, it's tight in some areas and lots of traffic, CO139/64 should never be designated a truck route, it's basically a paved goat trail, and a poorly paved one at that. The 8 miles stretch that is Douglas Pass is amusing.

Amen brother, I love Colo. Mtn's in the winter time

50 isn't so bad, 287 is worse for the wind, especially the area from Springfield to Kit carson

 

Was on i-40 AZ yesterday, going to Hurricane in UT. QC told me to take US-89 up to AZ-389 and then UT-59 N, etc.... However, GPS told me to take Alt-89 and I didn't noticed that was a different route. Well.... the scenery was very pretty, the mountains, the rocks the cliffs and everything... The road was quite narrow and full of curves, ups and down.... I was doing ok until I took Alt-89 in Bitter Springs, AZ. Crossed Marble Canyon, and then started going up.... and up... and up... and then went thru Kaibab National Park The road was so narrow and so many curves that several times I saw my trailer tires crossing to the other side of the yellow lines... No shoulder at all, no guard rail at the edge of the cliff.... a wall of sharp rocks on my right side, heavy oncoming traffic on my left... many Rv's, busses, some trucks too, and lots of vehicles... Reminded me the IRT driving in the Hymalayas.... OMG!! Had to slow down to 35 mph before each sharp blind curve... Talk about stress, my muscles soo tight, swetting like a nervous hog.... Passing another truck next to a very sharp curve, we got dangerously close to each other. He got mad on the CB, said I had pushed him off the road... I wanted to appologize but couldn't even answer cause I wouldn't dare to release steering wheel... But I got as close as I thought I could to the edge of the cliff... And I also had to go off the road a few times and dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, facing that abysm down there, trying to stay in my lane.... Felt a strong desire to play my horn the whole time, just like those drivers in the Hymalayan mountains to advise ocoming traffic. Some of those drivers come down in a hurry, don't even care what is coming their way... That is a very pretty road, I would have enjoyed it a lot if I were driving a car, but in a 18 wheeler... Wouldn't dare to drive there at night.

 

Oh for heaven sakes Rocks! Let me guess, you drive for SWIFT and were going to the Walmart DC. Right?

OK, I've got a couple of comments for you here. First, you had qc directions that you decided to ignore, in favor of your GPS. Perhaps you should have checked a bit further, like a trucker's atlas.

FWIW, unless you went the couple of miles out of your way in Fredonia, you missed two scales by going the way you went. And if you had been nailed by DPS doing it, it would cost you dearly.

I used to run between SLC and Phoenix when I was with Knight. I've taken that stretch of 89A many times. It is spectacular, but it sure isn't anything to get your panties in a wad over. And there is nowhere on that road that you can't keep your '53 in your own lane. Including the hairpin on the east side of the grade.

There is no Kaibab National Park. You were on the national forest, and skirted Grand Canyon National Park.

FWIW, the stretch of SR59 in Utah, from Colorado City, AZ to Hurricane, UT is the most dangerous part of that whole trip. There are more idiots per steering wheel on that stretch of road than I have seen anywhere else.

I probably heard your jake as you came down the grade into Hurricane!

 

Agree, Mr. BigDon. The QC routes 89, not 89A. It's one of the reasons I refuse to have a gps in my truck..."Left turn 1/2 mile....left turn 500 yards....left turn 100 yards....I SAID LEFT TURN!!!...recalculating..." the d*** things are so naggy you can't help but notice them. If you want a woman nagging you about your directions, take your mother-in-law with you.

I still stand by UT143 since I drove it a couple months ago. It really is a 13% grade with a double hairpin near the top. Had me prying the seat out of my rear with a crowbar, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything...even though I really wasn't supposed to be there. It wasn't until I reached the top that I remembered I was under a hazmat load. And when I told that DOT cop in Kanab about my little detour, he looked at me like: ...

 

I-95,81 and 40 west of Amarillo. I-5,in the early morning hours pretty much from the grapevine south. And of course the Alaskan Highway!! heh