The Worst Highway in the World
That’s Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson. The worst anywhere and trust me, I’ve driven just about all of them. Some would argue I-95 in South Florida and could make a strong argument but I’ll take I-10.
It’s four lanes, two going each way. You have a choice. You either drive 55 miles per hour in the right lane behind one giant road-crushing, air polluting 18-wheeler or you get in the left hand lane and drive 85 miles per hour.
It’s either or.
Drive 75 miles per hour in the left lane and you’ll have somebody right on your bumper waiting for you to get out of the way. Heaven forbid that you’re trying to pass one of those oversized 18-wheel smog belchers in the right lane.
Talladega has nothing on I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson as Earnhardt-wannabes slice their way through 18 wheelers and RV campers on their way to…
Good point. Where are you going at 6 a.m. in the morning? Big sales event at the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm? First call at the Red Rock Bar out on the middle of nowhere.
Rangers-White Sox? Oh yeah, Tucson Electric Park and the Kino Sports Complex, original and still the spring home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Buck Showalter designed. Kind of like those Jack Nicklaus golf courses with each detail carefully laid out down to the last sliding pit and bunting cage. Terrific view of the mountains north of Tucson as well, plus the fighter jets taking off from Davis-Monahan Air Force Base.
Sorry, some of us love a good flyover. Mach 1 in the sky is a good thing. Mach 1 on Interstate 10 is another matter entirely. What was Eisenhower thinking?
T.R. Sullivan
Toby
Never been on I-10, but I moved from DFW to Birmingham, AL a few years ago, and that sounds like everyday life out here. Without any professional sports teams out here, these guys love their college football and of course Nascar with Talladega nearby. Everyone out here drives as though they’re being secretly scouted to be the next Earnhardt. It’s move it or lose it if you’re not doing 80-85. Oh, and don’t worry about being stuck behind an 18 wheeler out here, they’re doing 80-85 or better as well. Go Rangers!
Cheer up TR! You have a great job! Reporting and researching MLB is your profession! Not many people have that privilege. You also basically get three months a year ( almost ) off. You’ve got it made! What are you complaining about?
TR – I used to live out there. The 6 AM deal is the folks who live in places like Chandler who are still working in Tucson or those that “have” to be down there for the day. I’m sure you noticed that there is not much to see along the way either…Picacho Peak, nice saguaro and RV’s. Casa Grande, can’t see it from the interstate. Consequently, the locals are just flying low.
If you want a more leisurely (and I do mean leisurely) drive you can always go out the Superstition Freeway and keep going a ways out past Apache Junction and pick up 79 and follow it ’til it turns to 77 in Oracle Junction and take that into Tucson. Take a right onto Miracle Mile to go back to I-10 once you are a bit past the Tucson mall, makes it easier to get to the TEP.
A bit shorter but more traffic initially is to take Superstition and get off on 87 in Mesa, go down thru Chandler and take that to 287 in Coolidge and then pick up 79 in Florence, then same as above to Tucson.
You’ll get to see some interesting (well different) parts of the desert; from copper mines to scorched earth to the Catalinas. I’ll be flying low with the locals on the morning of 3/20 to catch the Rangers – D-backs though…unless the scenic route is insisted on by the family.
BTW – these routes are not for the uninitiate in the summer.
thanks for the warning TR…I am on my way out to spring training for vacation. I drove from DFW to ElPaso, where I sit in a hotel room tonight. tomorrow is the long drive. I’ll be ready to be pushed, or to drag. At least you missed the whiteout condition snow from Eastland to Abilene.