Moving from SF to Milw. I-80 or I-90?

[SFOtoMKE]

hi, i am going to be driving my car from san francisco to milwaukee in june and will take I-80 until wyoming and am wondering if its safest to stay on 80 or switch to 90? i read on a thread here that 80 has lots of semis and RVs and 90 may be a bit safer. obviously 80 is more direct. what are your thoughts?

[glc]

Welcome to RTA!

There's nothing really unsafe about I-80. The only reason I'd possibly consider an alternate is to avoid tolls in IL on I-88 and I-39. To avoid those and still stay on Interstates, take I-35 north out of Des Moines to I-90.

[AZBuck]

We often (I do it too) look for reasons outside ourselves that make any journey safe or not, be it weather, other drivers or terrain. The simple fact is that the major factor in how safe one's drive is, in the words of Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers: "the nut behind the wheel." And the biggest two things that a driver can do to make a RoadTrip as safe as possible are to leave enough time for the trip including unforeseen events, and to keep the journey interesting enough to keep the driver engaged.

On the first point, you'll need an absolute minimum of four days for this drive and I'd strongly advise adding a fifth if you want to see anything along the way or leave yourself a little margin. On the second point, I-90 across western Wyoming, all of South Dakota (except for the Black Hills) and most of southern Minnesota is pretty flat and featureless, the kind of conditions that can lead to highway hypnosis. While I-80 across Nebraska and Iowa shares some of the same problems, at least it is an historic route (the old Oregon Trail along the Platte River) with an occasional larger city such as Cheyenne, Omaha and Des Moines to break up the cattle and farm lands. And as always, the shorter route means less time on the road and that much smaller a chance of having a safety issue.

AZbuck

[SFOtoMKE]

thank you both! I-80 it is. thats also what my uncle and cousin suggested and they are both truck drivers.

[DonnaR57]

I-80 is a good choice, but you could leave I-90 as an option in the event of a weather issue.





Donna

[Midwest Michael]

The only reason I'd possibly consider an alternate is to avoid tolls in IL on I-88 and I-39. To avoid those and still stay on Interstates, take I-35 north out of Des Moines to I-90.

That would add a lot of miles and almost certainly cost more in extra gas than the 2 or 3 tolls you have in IL.

I believe those tolls will cost you about $3. If you really want to avoid them, take I-380 north from Iowa city and then US-151 from cedar rapids to Madison. It's near interstate quality, and just has a few stop lights in cedar rapids and Dubuque.

[glc]

I believe those tolls will cost you about $3. If you really want to avoid them, take I-380 north from Iowa city and then US-151 from cedar rapids to Madison. It's near interstate quality, and just has a few stop lights in cedar rapids and Dubuque.

That's if you have a transponder. Without one, Pay by Plate rate is $5.50, and you have 14 days after the travel to log into the pay by plate system at getipass.com with your plate number and credit card info.

Google says your alternate only adds 10 minutes and no miles. Good catch! I wasn't aware that US-151 was that good a road.