Central West Virginia to the Grand Canyon - will I-40 be OK?

Petrified Forest
Painted Desert
Winslow AZ. (Eagles)
Meteor Crater
TeePee Motel Holbrook Az
Road Kill Cafe - Seligman

Watch for snow --

Dennis

Have only driven parts of it over the years. But like most all other interstates, some parts are great, some parts will beat you to death. And it changes both ways as the years pass. Just enjoy the good parts and suffer thru the rest.

There is a lot to see along I-40. In Amarillo, there is Palo Duro Canyon State Park and the Big Texan on Old Route 66. In New Mexico, Tucumcari still has dinners along Historic Route 66 and numerous murals painted on buildings plus other attractions such as the foundary and windfarm training center at the college. Santa Rosa is another Route 66 town and has the The Blue Hole and Santa Rosa Lake State Park which has a nice campground. In Albuquerque, the Pueblo Cultural Center and Petroglyph National Monument are worth visiting in my opinion. In Grants, there is the Mining Museum. Just South of I-40 going West from Grants are El Malpais National Monument, El Moro National Monument and the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano. Acoma Sky City is said to be the longest occuppied location in the U.S. They give tours of the pueblo and there is an RV park next to the casino.

On the way to Flagstaff along I-40 are Petrified Forest National Park, Meteor Crater and Homolovi Ruins State Park. You can stand on the corner in Winslow Arizona.

In the Flagstaff area are Sunset Crater National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, and Walnut Canyon National Monument. Sedona/Camp Verde/Cottonwood are about an hour South of Flagstaff with Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well National Monuments, Tuzigoot National Monument, Palatki and Honaki Ruins, V-Bar-V Heritage Site, Verde Canyon Railroad, Fort Verde State Park, Cathedral Rock, Gold King Mine, Jerome State Historic Park in the area.

All this before you even get to the Grand Canyon.

Are you thinking about going this time of year, or in April or May?

They get deep snow in Flagstaff, along I 40 near Grand Canyon. At 6,500' elevation, the first trip I took with my new to me camper in 1987 was to the Grand Canyon over Thanksgiving weekend, and it snowed, ice on the main road, and slippery. I could not even see the canyon through the fog. So I kept checking the newspaper for Flagstaff weather, and it kept reading in the teens and 20's all winter long, only getting warm in the summer.

May might be OK or warm, it all depends. . .

Check Weather.com for the month that you plan on traveling. If you plan on traveling in March, also check Albuquerque weather, as it is 5,200' elevation, and also subject to snow between October and March.

I guess you are used to driving in the snow, but if you want to avoid it in the next couple of weeks, you can plan to travel between the storms, or go south to I-10.

Good luck,

Fred.

Looking at taking the trip in April so weather should not be an issue.

Just really trying to find out how bad/good? I40 is???????

Thanks,

Its been a couple of years, but we drove the section through New Mexico and Arizona from Amarillo, TX a number of times and it was always in good condition. Our preferred route in that area is US-60, but it is a lot of two lane and takes you through the mountains of New Mexico and Eastern Arizona. I-40 around Oklahoma City was bad the two times we drove that section. We drove from Memphis to Knoxville on I-40 last Spring and I don't remember anything that bad, but we always avoid rush hour around the larger cities. As another poster stated, if you travel the interstates, your likely to run into bad sections and construction somewhere.

California is a big place. What's the destination? The best route to San Francisco is not necessarily the best route to Los Angeles. Let us assume Los Angeles (Disneyland, Hollywood and half the population of the state).

I-40 would be my route of choice, April through October, if time matters, going to southern California. There is plenty to see and do. From Oklahoma City west, you are mostly on or near Route 66, and all the sightseeing places were developed in the 50s and 60s for that traffic. The sightseeing place we call the Grand Canyon is where it is because it is close to this route. The actual canyon is much more extensive, we just visit the place close to the highway.

East of OKC, Nashville, Memphis, and Little Rock are worth visits. To the west, Las Vegas, Death Valley, can be not too far out of the way.

In winter, for Interstate travel to southern California, I would try to get down to at least Atlanta, and take I-20/I-10.

But from West Virginia, you can also leave on I-64 to St Louis, stay on I-70 all the way to Utah, then down I-15 to Las Vegas and southern California. This route takes your through Missouri and Kansas (which I've learned to appreciate after 30 years on the Great Plains) then across the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, where they are more impressive, and onto the Colorado Plateau to see a half dozen of the best National Parks, Monuments or Recreation Areas in the Park Service inventory. Season for this route is late June through early October.

If the destination is northern California, I recommend I-80 if in a hurry, US-50 if not, but the season for getting across the Sierra Nevada is narrower. Winter can be very long in the High Sierra.

If the question is just about "what is the road like, I-40" then the answer is "it varies." Past few years I-40 has been totally closed for months, a couple times, through the Appalachians. The road is usually pretty good through Tennessee, Nashville is always a mess at the wrong time of day (2-3 hours twice a day) and West Memphis is always a congestion point. A small section between Memphis and Little Rock (crossing a flood plain) was notoriously bad for years, but they've just finished rebuilding it. Most from Little Rock to Oklahoma City has recently been rebuilt, but there may still be projects working in OKC, my preference is to use I-240 to bypass the downtown. West of the Oklahoma City suburbs (El Reno and beyond) is still in decent shape, as is the section in Texas to Amarillo.

Beyond Amarillo, I can't vouch personally. Last time I came through they were rebuilding the highway between Santa Rosa and ABQ, but that was almost 10 years ago, it has certainly been finished but is has been long enough that the road could be beat up again.

The standards for the Interstate Highway system produce roads for 8-10 year lifespan, less if states allow loads over 80,000 pounds, which most do. This means along any route some sections will be almost destroyed by traffic, some will be being rebuilt, some will have been recently rebuilt. Pick any of the highways, East-West particularly, travel 2000 miles on the highway, and you will encounter all three situations.

When time doesn't matter, I avoid the Interstate system as much as I can. From West Virginia I might follow U.S. 50 to Northern California, U.S. 60 towards Southern California. I've followed both from the Atlantic to the Sierra Nevada, both are interesting trips, both are quite slow trips, even when dropping onto the Interstate to get through major cities on freeways rather than surface streets.

I think that most of you are of the opinion that you just need to take the good with the bad?

This will be a sprint to West central California, with the only scheduled stop being the Grand Canyon, Weather is not a factor, the driver has a CDL and will have no problem driving - he lives in the Mountains of West Virginia and can drive - just trying to be sure the roads are good and not the junk I drove on 13 years ago.

I will suggest I-240 to by-pass Oklahoma City, other than that he should just check on local road conditions with the DOT and grin and Bear it?

Thanks,

On our trip to the Grand Canyon from Florida, we got on I-40 near Amarillo. From there to the canyon, I-40 was nice.

I say take the route your time frame allows. Have done I-40 from the Grand Canyon to East TN and for the most part its just fine with some stretches better than others, some worse. Nothing was so terrible that it was notable. Take the good with the bad. You have construction in Memphis, just avoid the cities at rush hours. Be patient when needed.