Is the traffic on I-90 in South Dakota pretty light?

[Sukhoi]

Trying to plan out my cross-country trip in July. I presume I'm not going to be stuck in too much traffic up there, right?

 

[KillerCharlie]

It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

 

[Oil]

The only traffic is the occasional stampede of buffalo

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

Just wanted to make sure. :laugh: Never driven cross-country before. It is the route from the Pacific NW to the Midwest so in July it could actually be sorta busy.

 

[KillerCharlie]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

Just wanted to make sure. :laugh: Never driven cross-country before. It is the route from the Pacific NW to the Midwest so in July it could actually be sorta busy.

I've made the midwest to Seattle trip about 4 times. South Dakota is an incredibly boring drive, though it is better than North Dakota. Nothing is worse than that.

 

[vi edit]

Actually in July there will be a decent amount of traffic due to prime tourism season heading to the Black Hills.

You'll run into a LOT of RV's and trucks pulling campers slowing things down.

 

[villageidiot111]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

Just wanted to make sure. :laugh: Never driven cross-country before. It is the route from the Pacific NW to the Midwest so in July it could actually be sorta busy.

I've made the midwest to Seattle trip about 4 times. South Dakota is an incredibly boring drive, though it is better than North Dakota. Nothing is worse than that.

Lol, I live in Fargo and the highways don't even get busy during rush hour here.

 

[Eos]

Unless you absolutely want to go through SD, I recommend:

I-29
NE hwy 2
I-80
I-84 (to Portland)
I-82 (split to Seattle; continue west on I-90)

Wyoming is a nice drive. Very fast and flatter than MT.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: eos
Unless you absolutely want to go through SD, I recommend:

I-29
NE hwy 2
I-80
I-84 (to Portland)
I-82 (split to Seattle; continue west on I-90)

Wyoming is a nice drive. Very fast and flatter than MT.

:thumbsup:
It would be faster IMO

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: eos
Unless you absolutely want to go through SD, I recommend:

I-29
NE hwy 2
I-80
I-84 (to Portland)
I-82 (split to Seattle; continue west on I-90)

Wyoming is a nice drive. Very fast and flatter than MT.

Actually my final destination is San Francisco. But I'm stopping by Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons on the way. The original plan was just to take either I-80 to Rawlins or I-25 to Casper and go to the east entrance of Yellowstone. But I figure while I'm up there I might as well drive US-212 to the NE entrance since it's supposed to be the most beautiful road in the country and I'll be there in very late June when it's actually open. If I'm going that way it's actually faster to take I-29 up to I-90 and over to US-212, than to take I-25 to Casper and take 2-lane roads the rest of the way. However I need to get from Lexington, KY to Yellowstone in about 2.5 days, which is the difficult part.

vi_edit that's exactly what I'm worried about. Though I suppose I-80 would probably be just as bad if not worse since you can take it to both Colorado and Wyoming parks.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

More traffic is a good thing in a way if you ever get road stuck with a broken down car more chances of someone stopping by to lend you a hand. If you drive alone, well then forget what I just said, but if you travel in a family you won't represent a threat to anybody wanting to help you.

The drive itself is boring.

 

[Sukhoi]

Interesting, I just ran the numbers. Surprisingly little difference between the possible routes from my stop the previous day. This route is for 2 day so don't worry I'm not trying to drive 18 hours in day.

Yellowstone E entrance via I-80 to I-25 to Casper then via Cody is 18 hours.
NE entrance via above route but up WY-296 to US-212 is 18 hours.
NE entrance via above but doing all of US-212 instead of WY-296 is 19.25 hours.
NE entrace by doing I-25 to I-90 and all of US-212 is 18.5 hours.
NE entrance by I-90 all the way to US-212 is 18.25 hours.

From a glance at a map it looks like the driving times would be way more different than about 45 minutes.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

Just wanted to make sure. :laugh: Never driven cross-country before. It is the route from the Pacific NW to the Midwest so in July it could actually be sorta busy.

I've made the midwest to Seattle trip about 4 times. South Dakota is an incredibly boring drive, though it is better than Nebraska on I-80. Nothing is worse than that.

Fixed that for ya....

Depending on exactly when you go, you SHOULD have decent traffic, except for the couple of mid-sized cities across SD, and then ONLY during the "rush hour" such as it is.. The Sturgis Rally is the first week of August, so the last week or so of July, expect to see lots of bikes and bike haulers, but other than that, I-90 is usually pretty smooth sailing.

 

[cavingjan]

I would not get into yellowstone last in the afternoon/early evening and expect to find a room or camp site without reservations. Everytime I've gone to Yellowstone, the campsites were full before suppertime and some of them were filled by 3.

Just a heads up.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

Just wanted to make sure. :laugh: Never driven cross-country before. It is the route from the Pacific NW to the Midwest so in July it could actually be sorta busy.

I've made the midwest to Seattle trip about 4 times. South Dakota is an incredibly boring drive, though it is better than Nebraska on I-80. Nothing is worse than that.

Fixed that for ya....

Depending on exactly when you go, you SHOULD have decent traffic, except for the couple of mid-sized cities across SD, and then ONLY during the "rush hour" such as it is.. The Sturgis Rally is the first week of August, so the last week or so of July, expect to see lots of bikes and bike haulers, but other than that, I-90 is usually pretty smooth sailing.

Wow I-80 is really that bad in Nebraska? It looks like I-90 is probably the best thing for me to do.

cavingjan, already have reservations.

 

[BoomerD]

Nah, it's a decent road, just boring as hell...700 ****** miles of nothing but corn fields...or so it seems anyway Just a LONG and boring drive...seems to take all dammed day just to get across Nebraska...

 

[TwiceOver]

Shouldn't be too bad. You'll see lots of corn and prairie here. It's an interstate so it should be 2-lane (each direction). Just try to avoid the Sturgis Bike Rally traffic and you should be good to go. Don't expect some huge city to go through, there aren't any. I live in the 5th largest in SD and our population is 22k

 

[Eos]

I-80 through NE and WY (not to exclude IA) is not a big deal. I've run that road dozens of times at 68mph. In a car, it's a stoopid fast road. Almost no slowdowns. Even construction zones in NE only slow to 65 mph.

It takes almost 3 days to get from SLC to Gary, IN in a semi. 3 days.

 

[Sukhoi]

Wow I didn't know there are 65 MPH construction zones anywhere. Stupid Indiana is 45 MPH. :|

 

[Auryg]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

Just wanted to make sure. :laugh: Never driven cross-country before. It is the route from the Pacific NW to the Midwest so in July it could actually be sorta busy.

I've made the midwest to Seattle trip about 4 times. South Dakota is an incredibly boring drive, though it is better than North Dakota. Nothing is worse than that.

Nebraska is worse.

Edit: heh, already been said.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
It's South Dakota... WTF do you think? Seriously...

Just wanted to make sure. :laugh: Never driven cross-country before. It is the route from the Pacific NW to the Midwest so in July it could actually be sorta busy.

I've made the midwest to Seattle trip about 4 times. South Dakota is an incredibly boring drive, though it is better than North Dakota. Nothing is worse than that.

Try Manitoba-Saskatchewan-Southern Alberta. Northern Ontario is comparable to North Dakota.

 

[BoberFett]

I-90 would take you right by Sturgis, but if you're going through in July you'd be a few weeks too early for the rally and the place would be a ghost town.