Community Forums

skyking421 · 07-19-2015, 02:56 PM

Avoid I-40 Nashville to Oklahoma - bang, bang, bang, smash, smash, smash............................................. .....................................

We were driving our 2007 Winnebago Adventurer 35', while towing our Saturn wagon. Our vacation started in Greenville, SC and the 1st destination was Las Vegas. Of course, we planned I-40 all the way.
The trip progressed well until I-40 started to get rough after Nashville. Once we got to Memphis it got worse. The "bang, bang, bang" of the road separations felt like there were men with sledgehammers smashing the RV. This continued for days, all the way to Oklahoma City. We said to ourselves, that if this is how it is, we are not RVing any more. Absolute torture! There were a few times on I-40, where I merged into the left lane (2 lanes westbound), because it felt like something would break!

To our relief, the road smoothed out somewhere west of Oklahoma City and most of the roads in NM, AZ, NV, UT, and CO were fine.

After touring Colorado, we returned using I-70. We were surprised how much better I-70 was than I-40.

There is a concrete section of I-26, near Hendersonville, NC, that has bad offsets in the concrete, but the travel on I-40 was twice as bad.

I know these motorhomes ride hard and I plan to replace the shocks, but we will never drive I-40 out there again, even in a car.

It would be nice to have a listing of the quality of our major highways. We could have a map with colors on the highways to show how good or bad they are reported, like when we see red, yellow, green for traffic maps

To sum it up, take I-70!

JacknKay · 07-19-2015, 03:50 PM

In 2012 we drove from Memphis to ABQ on I-40. I don't remember it being worse than other roads. I remember the GPS went nuts because of a new section in the heart of OKC.

alpha99 · 07-19-2015, 04:12 PM

I see it hasn't changed in two years since we drove it, bailed out to I 70.

Cat320 · 07-19-2015, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JacknKay

In 2012 we drove from Memphis to ABQ on I-40. I don't remember it being worse than other roads. I remember the GPS went nuts because of a new section in the heart of OKC.

Same here. We've been all over the country and didn't see any difference between I 40 and any other interstate. However, they are all cyclic...go from bad...fixed...back to bad...fixed...etc.

locamp · 07-19-2015, 05:41 PM

take 840 miss nashville

DGBPokes · 07-19-2015, 07:21 PM

Just drove from East Ok to Est Tennessee on I 40, four days ago. OK has done a lot to resurface and improve east of OKC. We ran into a20 mile stretch that was moderate, but nothing like it was a few years ago. Arkansas west was good, but east of Little Rock. Hang on to your dentures!

G.G. · 07-19-2015, 07:42 PM

Last year leaving Memphis headed west was horrible. We were talking about it just yesterday. Looks like nothing has improved.

GWDawg1 · 07-22-2015, 01:07 PM

There is a ton of semi traffic on I40 from Memphis to Ft Smith, Ar, and especially from Memphis to Little Rock. These heavy trucks have destroyed the road. I once counted 65 semis in a row on a trip to Ft Smith. I avoid i40 from Memphis to Little Rock when I can, once you hit the I30 split, it gets a little better.

camato5 · 07-22-2015, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GWDawg1

There is a ton of semi traffic on I40 from Memphis to Ft Smith, Ar, and especially from Memphis to Little Rock. These heavy trucks have destroyed the road. I once counted 65 semis in a row on a trip to Ft Smith. I avoid i40 from Memphis to Little Rock when I can, once you hit the I30 split, it gets a little better.

That is correct, I-40 is a MAJOR highway east and west and is heavily traveled by tractor trailers delivering goods from east to west and west to east. Truck vs car traffic is about 5 to 1 in favor of the trucks. Keeping those roads repaired AND opened is a very difficult job. I like to travel in the fast lane whenever possible. They will eventually all get repaired a section at a time but there is always going to be bad lengths until there is another major route to detour that highway.

novoclan · 07-22-2015, 07:33 PM

Just drove I40 through there! The bad patches are really bad. They would set up a wobble in the whole coach that I thought would rip off the wheels. White knuckled through it. Finally started to edge over onto the shoulder to lessen the the impact. Avoid if you can.

mjeffrey · 07-29-2015, 10:23 AM

Ugh, hate to hear these reports. We have to travel from Memphis to Hot Springs next week and obviously I-40 is the most direct path. Should we consider 79 or 70 (not same as I-70)? Both are just 2-lane roads and probably go thru small towns... Would definitely make for a longer driving day but we don't want to tear up the rig...

skyking421 · 07-30-2015, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjeffrey

Ugh, hate to hear these reports. We have to travel from Memphis to Hot Springs next week and obviously I-40 is the most direct path. Should we consider 79 or 70 (not same as I-70)? Both are just 2-lane roads and probably go thru small towns... Would definitely make for a longer driving day but we don't want to tear up the rig...

Your rig probably has "air ride" and I am told that will greatly lessen the pain.
I see route 70 is a close parallel to I-40, so you can try I-40 and jump off or back on as you wish.
It's too bad that I didn't try that.

camato5 · 07-30-2015, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjeffrey

Ugh, hate to hear these reports. We have to travel from Memphis to Hot Springs next week and obviously I-40 is the most direct path. Should we consider 79 or 70 (not same as I-70)? Both are just 2-lane roads and probably go thru small towns... Would definitely make for a longer driving day but we don't want to tear up the rig...

Look it is really not that bad all the way. It is probably 30 miles west of Memphis that is really bad. The rest of I-40 is fairly smooth and gets better as you near Little Rock. There will be a little slow up as you leave Little Rock on I30 headed to Hot Springs because of construction but if you hit it right it wont be too bad

JFXG · 07-30-2015, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GWDawg1

There is a ton of semi traffic on I40 from Memphis to Ft Smith, Ar, and especially from Memphis to Little Rock. These heavy trucks have destroyed the road........

Don't go blaming this on the trucks!!! Transport trucks have weighed 80K Lbs for a long, long time. And there have been lots of trucks for a long, long time. Anyone planning a highway in the last 30 years has known exactly what they were dealing with as far as truck traffic is concerned. If these roads were designed and built properly to begin with, the only restructuring necessary would be a surface skin every few years. Instead, our so-called "public servants" build them as cheaply as possible, they disintegrate in a matter of a few years, and the entire commercial transport system suffers.

Long lasting highways can be built-- HAVE been built. There are 2- and 3-mile sections of pavement all over the country that withstand million-pound pummeling all day long, never develop potholes even through sub-zero winters, and go many, many years between rebuildings. Just go check out any major airport.

John & Diane, fulltiming since '12
'02 DS 40, FL, 3126, '04 Element