Michigan Roads not RV friendly

[bobbelcher]

Originally Posted by Pepper2

We just crossed MI from Detroit to Berrien Springs MI on I94 and found the roads rough in a few areas along the way, but not terrible.
If you want bad road conditions try PA and NY. I had a blowout on one tire and large slice in the other tire of my tow dolly leaving PA entering NY on Rt. 84. There were pot holes everywhere.

If this was near the indian territory, i have been told that the Indians own the roadways and wont spend money to fix them. PA is definitely not good roads which would make me so disappointed if I lived there considering how high their gas tax is. This past weekend we went thru there and gas was almost 3 dollars a gallon and it was 2.30 in ohio at the state line.

[GoneToTheDog]

We have just returned home from a 5,000 mile...14 state...trip.
Starting in Mesa, Arizona. North to Deadwood, South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore. Then east to Middlebury, Indiana. South as far as Nashville. And then back west, and home again. Lots of fun and interesting stops along the way. The entire trip looks like one big square, on the map.

Over all....we found the roads to be in pretty good shape for the most part. A few rough spots, here and there. Nothing that rattled your teeth all day. A few places there was road construction. Very little delay.

Best of all, other than some rain here and there....the 'co-pilot/navigator....kept us ahead of and away from, any severe weather.

[Unicorn Driver]

Michigan roads are hit and miss. I75 goes from great to brutal and back again. I127 is generally decent. The 55mph roads are in decent shape.

[vernthompson]

Originally Posted by RiverBurt

Don’t go where the big trucks go.

No state, region, or other entity has a monopoly on bad roads.

And guess who maintains Interstate, US, and state highways?

That’s right, the state they’re in.

Trying to make political statements on this subject is just taking cheap shots. The infrastructure is neglected. So, what else is new?

Find roads that are paved to handle truck traffic, even if no one remembers why, but don’t actually GET any truck traffic, and you’re in Fat City. Every state, and almost every route, has ‘em. Some of them are incredible, especially in the SW states.

If your priorities are shortest distance or time, suck it up. If your priority is nice rides, they’re out there.

Great idea

[willbush]

Add the state of Illinois to you list - terrible Interstate roads - Potholes, rough ...

[OlJB]

We found MI interstates to be bad, too, so we got off on secondary roads (US highways and MI highways), and found them much better. Traveled all the way to the UP, then across the UP to WI. Roads were pretty good to good, once off the interstates.

[Mr.Goodbar]

Originally Posted by willbush

Add the state of Illinois to you list - terrible Interstate roads - Potholes, rough ...

What part? We just took a car trip from Nashville to Duluth via I-24, I-57, I-74, I-39 on into WI. I-24 and I-57 didn't seem so bad. A few stretches of I-57 have been recently repaved. I-74, did not notice any bad spots. I-39, repaving in some stretches, the worst continues to be just south of Rockford, where you are heading west and turn south, the southbound side seemed rough last year and still is.

BTW, IMHO, Wisconsin roads seem to be generally in good shape, at least the ones we travel. The I-39/I-90 is in the midst of multi-year reconstruction, I-94 isn't bad and US-53 to Superior is great.

We're taking our MH up there to northern MN, in a week, so my opinion may change.

[photraveller]

Originally Posted by drdit92

Once upon a time I might have complained about poor road conditions in the lower 48. Then I drove on the Alaska highway. You have no idea.

I was getting ready to say the Alcan was smoother for the most part than some of our interstates, then saw your post.

We drove the Alcan last year, and with the exception of the last 250 miles southeast of the Alaskan border I would say the Alcan wasn't much worse than many roads we've driven in the northern lower 48. Yes most of it is chip seal so you don't drive it at 65+mph, but driving the speed limit, it seemed as smooth as many of our interstates. Also at least they put flags out for bad spots, in the lower 48 it is really rare to see any warning.

One thing that made it seem worse was we drove Hwy1 in Canada from Winnipeg to Calgary and that was a very nice road!

For me the worse interstate we've driven on is I94 in Minnesota. Actually made my wife physically ill a couple different times.

Then there's the short section of I40 heading into Memphis from the west. For years there has been a 2-3 mile section that causes our coach to porpoise to the hard stops if I drive above 55.

Steve

[ClairS]

For the last two years I have scouted out and used secondary roads whenever possible. They generally are in good condition with little or no traffic. Using GPS trip planner I found that the difference in time is very little. I found that in a recent trip it was even quicker to bypass Ft. Worth, TX.

Sometimes it's faster to go slow.

[Captn John]

I prefer 2ndary roads but the 5er is 13'5" tall. Too many low points. In a small town my front ac touched the ref light on Main St.
Worst roads I've found are in LA, PA and MI.

[cgsquirrel]

we travel to michigan to see my sister and her family,we love michigan except at the end of november and well they feel that way about ohio.we have heavy industry in the midwest. minnesota to western new york you see potholes i see money.our new govenor told us that a former govenor raised gas taxes (12 years ago)as did taft raise gas taxes.this guy was in 6 weeks and pushed diesel taxes up 18 cents started this week.what do you call 1000 politicians on the bottom of lake erie?a good start.

[arboldt]

Most of the states where winter temperatures fluctuate between freezing (e.g. snow) and thawing (e.g. rain) will have road problems. From our experience, figure from I-70 to the Canadian border. When rain / sleet fall, it seeps into road cracks, then expands as it freezes and breaks up the roads. Some states are better at maintaining and filling the cracks, but most have issues.
Last summer as we drove from Michigan to Iowa, then north along I-90 to Washington, we saw many states' problems -- worst was around metro Chicago.
Yeah, Michigan has its problem areas, but not as many as other states. But we try to avoid metro areas.

[oceansailor]

We've taken the rig to 20+ states so far, and I can't say that any one of them is uniformly ideal with regard to road quality; they all suck at times, depending on which road you're on. Spent a season salmon-fishing the Pere Marquette in Michigan, which took a longish RV run up the coast (and several non-RV runs up and down to the airport), and it absolutely does not stand out as being outside normal range in my mind.

I will say that Louisiana and Illinois roads do stand out as being mostly atrocious. There are very few good roads that we've found in either one - and the only ones I've been on ended, or changed in quality, very quickly. California and Florida lean more toward the good end - but even they have their roller-coaster rides that will shake the teeth out of your head and the change out of your pockets.

As a note: I'm not actually complaining, just noting facts. Hell, I drive a Jeep on Colorado mountain trails nearly every day in the summer, just because I enjoy it. But it would be nice if, as a country, we took better care of our arteries to ensure decent future circulation.

[Captn John]

As my kids have finally awakened and moved south I find very little interest in going north of the Mason Dixon Line. Not only are the roads worse but so is the weather. Those two go together. CGs with short seasons seem to be higher priced along with fuel and everything else.