Seattle to Niagara Falls

[psomnath]

I am planning to drive from Seattle to Niagara falls next week. I would start this weekend (8/25) and will take 3-4 days to do it. My plan is to take I-90 all along, unless it's a good idea to avoid some part of it to avoid big city crowd. Also I keep on hearing about the flood condition in OH, IW etc. Would you please give me few pointers around :

1. What are the detours I should take to avoid big city traffic jam, flooding and any other current problems in I-90 between Seattle and Niagara Falls?
2. What are the 'must-see' places I should not miss?
3. Any other tips/advices are more than welcome.

Thanks a bunch in advance for your suggestions.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The first tip is that 4 days should be the minimum you even consider to cover this distance. At 2600 miles, that would still require you to travel more than 600 miles a day, which is the very upper limits of what we'd recommend for a multiday travel. 3 days would require more than 800 miles a day on the road, which shouldn't be done unless you've got multiple drivers and you understand you'll be up for a very grueling trip that would be all work and no pleasure.

Even at 4 days, you really won't have time for sightseeing, and you'll want to check out our tips for speed runs.

Since this is a speed run, I might recommend cutting down I-29 at Sioux Falls, and connecting up with I-80 near Omaha, which will help you avoid most of the heavy Chicago traffic.

Flooding shouldn't be a big concern. The area around I-90 in the Southeast Corner of Minnesota has been hit with flooding pretty badly, and I believe one rest area was closed because of flooding. There are also lots of areas within 10-20 miles on both sides of the interstate that have been hit pretty hard, but the Interstate itself is still open and you won't have any significant problems traveling through. The flooding in WI is all south of I-90, and I don't believe I-90 has been affected by the floods in Ohio.

[psomnath]

Thank you for your input. Actually we have multiple drivers. So we thought 3-4 days would be enough. After your suggestion we doubled the time (will take now more than one week), so that we have enough time to do little detours. Please let us know, if you have any suggestion around the 'must-see' places for a one week trip along the I-90 route. We have been to Yellowstone multiple times, so we decided not to go there this time. Also wind cave is no no (my wife freaks out with cave). So far we have decided to go to mount rushmore, corn place, driving through badland. Any other suggestion?