Nit-picking quickly rose to a theological level. Realizing that we were NOT writing a bible or an encyclopedia, we decided to simplify the criteria. We would choose:

1. the best east-west Interstate (and a runner-up), and

2. the best north-south Interstate (and a runner-up).

Furthermore, the only east-west routes we would consider would be those that went from ocean to ocean. The north-south routes had to go from border to border or from border to Gulf of Mexico.

When we were finished, if we had any leftover vitriol, we might even chose the WORST Interstates...

And what would we look for, what qualities would we use to judge the highways? This was not so difficult. We quickly settled on these characteristics:

1. Scenery. Everybody was of course thinking of their favorite car commercials, where the vehicle of choice swishes through the snow-capped Rockies or miraculously perches atop the stone monoliths of Monument Valley, etc.

2. History. Here, some seemed to fall victim to Route 66 nostalgia, while other staffers, less anchored in pop culture, tended more toward memories of the Oregon Trail, Lewis and Clark, etc.

3. Cities. We would think carefully about the range and quality of cities along the route.

4. Sights. What great touristy places were within 10 miles of the Interstate?

5. Congestion / Speed. Rat's nests like the Oakland Bay Bridge vs. speed-limitless Montana space.

6. Weirdness. What non-categorizable outbursts of American eccentricity lay within spitting distance of the route? Everybody was thinking of things like Watts Towers.

The Candidates
We got out our maps and discovered that there are few Interstates that actually encompass a truly transcontinental swath.

One east-west problem is the Great Lakes, which stop I-90 in Wisconsin. A shame, because the Wisconsin-Seattle run has some fine moments.. But still, half a continent is just not good enough.

Another candidate that dropped out because of our criteria was I-20, which is also only semi-continental. After a fine stretch from Wilmington, NC, across the heart of the Deep South, I-20 merges with (and becomes) I-10 in the middle of the West Texas desert. Just as a footnote: that Y-intersection, far from any town, surrounded by desert scrub, an occasional prairie dog, and distant blue mountains is surely the most surreal interchange in the whole Interstate system. How deserted is this interchange? A clue: The nearest McDonald's is a hundred miles away.

In our east-west discussion, we were also intrigued to discover a little mystery of the Interstate system: I-30, which with that nice even number you'd expect to be a biggie, is a little "orphan Interstate," running only from Little Rock to Dallas-Fort Worth. Go figure.

To get even three east-west candidates, we had to fudge a little. Interstate 40 stops at Barstow, CA, which, we decided, was close enough to the Pacific that we'd count it in.

Our final candidates:

East-west:
I-10.
I-40.
I-80.

. . .

As for the vertical Interstates, our border-to-border or border-to-Gulf criteria caused us some heartache. We lost a great candidate when we discovered that I-25, starting in El Paso, gets only as far as Casper, WY, and that just wasn't close enough to Canada to make an exception.

We had to eliminate both I-55 (from New Orleans) and I-65 (from Mobile), because both come to an end in the Chicago area. Again, not close enough to Canada to count.

The final slate:

North-south:
I-5
I-15
I-35
I-75
I-95.

Selecting the Winners >>

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