Has anyone traveled.....

[PTownSubbie]

U.S. Route 35 from Charleston, WV to Dayton, OH? I am taking a trip and googlemaps recommends that route. It is a 4 lane US Highway but has 12 miles of 2 lane road.

I want to know is it worth traveling? Does it go through a bunch of small towns where the speed limit is reduced?

This route saves me ~65 miles but that is only 2 gallons of gas with my car. I am worried that even though it is shorter, it will be longer in time.....

Anyone have any info on this route?

 

[workinforwood]

12 miles does not sound bad at all. I travel 35 in Dayton all the time and have been a few miles to the east on 35. To the west of Dayton it's all 2 lane and slow as a can be. Farm equipment, cars constantly turning, lights and towns to go through, it sucks. Through Downtown it's all 4 lane and more and flows pretty good and quick. On the east side there is a small section on the way out to Xenia with 3 lights, minor nuisance and then it opens right back up again. Once you get to Xenia and east is seems like it's all wide open 4 lane, but I haven't been too many miles east of there. The road does seem to angle it's way slightly south as it goes east. I don't have a map on me, but if it goes from Dayton to Charleston, I'd go for it.

Here's how I look at it as a truck driver. How many hours is the trip and what's the mile difference. Through the gas mileage equation away. If it's a 300 miles I call that 5 hrs. avg miles being 60. Now you cut 65 miles, we can just call that 60 miles, or 1 hr. Lets say the 60 mile short cut is 10 miles an hour slower because it's backroads or two lane. So because the shortcut was 4 hrs instead of 5, adding 10 minutes per hour for traffic delays, you are now at 4 hrs 40 minutes. So therefore, worse case scenario you are still 20 minutes faster. Odds are you will not be delayed by that much in the first place, but to look at it expecting problems to occur, you still would win.

 

[nativewooder]

And it will also depend on the time of day/night that you are traveling that particular stretch of road. Have a great trip!

 

[Sylvanite]

I've driven the section from Charleston to Chillicothe many times. Except for an old stretch along the river between Fraizer's Bottom and Point Pleasant (which isn't that bad, just bumpy), it's a good, fast road. Speed limits are 55 - 65. The part between Frazier's Bottom and I-64 is only a couple of years old and isn't on many maps (including the latest TomTom map) yet. It's the route the truckers take, and AAA recommended to me years ago.

Regards,
Eric