I-80 or I-70 from Indiana to Colorado

lushy wrote:
We are heading to Colorado from Indiana and I was wondering what route is better, I-80 or I-70? We have not traveled that way and I was just wondering what the differences are. Thanks.

Having made a few trips over the past 15 years (20+-), I found that I had a severe dislike of the traffic and the road conditions of I-80. That I like I-70 as a road but was bored to death for the drive.
One day I headed to Springfield, then over to Hannibal and out of 36 all the way to Boulder, it
was a great road -- except for a few miles just as you enter Colorado - is actually a dual highway much of the way, and has very little traffic. The Rt 36 route has been my go to route to Colorado for the last 12 years.

So the short answer is if you need to choose between 70 and 80 I'd go with 70 but if you are up for a little different route that is about 60 miles shorter (it's straight) and a lot more interesting give 36 a try.

BOL,

We go to Colorado twice a year we will take I-90 going there and I-80 coming home. Just because I-80 can be very boring, but it has nice waysides.

Thanks for all of the info. Looks like we will definately take I-80 from Indiana to Colorado. Coming home, I'm still deciding if I want to take I-70 just to have a change of scenery. Thanks again.

Six of one half dozen of the other. They are about the same depending on your entry point from Indiana. The "scenery" is the same. Plenty of places for food, fuel and camping. Kansas and Nebraska seem to go on for ever.

Both are flat, though as previously mentioned, you are going uphill very (VERY) gradually the entire route. IMO, Nebraska is visually a bit more interesting than Kansas, and it has the definite advantage of more pioneer-related sites to visit, close to the interstate, should you be interested in doing some sightseeing enroute.

x2 on the wind and truck route, especially for 80, with which we are more familiar. (Have done 70 once or twice, 80 many, many times.) I-80 is the workhorse of the nation, I think. If you do take 80, then drop down into Colorado via I-76 at Ogallala, NE.

Having pulled trailers on both of those routes, I-80 is the best if you're already in NW Indiana. It's shorter and faster. Once you get by Chicago, its easy driving. Wind is a factor on both routes, but most especially on I-70 in Kansas. You'll hit some construction on both routes. Both are big truck routes, with a bit more on I-80. I've never seen so many FedEx doubles as there were on I-70 in western Kansas last September.

We just came home on I-80 a week ago, by Omaha Nebraska there is a lot of road construction just to let you know.

lushy wrote:
We are heading to Colorado from Indiana and I was wondering what route is better, I-80 or I-70? We have not traveled that way and I was just wondering what the differences are. Thanks.

6 of one/half dozen of the other. I've done both over the years on my treks to NE Indiana. If you must travel on an interstate either will get you here. There seems to be more truck traffic on I-80, but trucks use both routes. A good determinant would be to check the websites of the states involved to see what sort of construction is going on this summer. I did both of them last year and I-80 seemed to have more construction going on in Nebraska and Iowa, while I-70 IIRC had some going on in Missouri. Either way also, you'll be going up hill, albeit gradually.

If time is not an element of your trip, consider alternate routes, such as US 36 across MO and KS. It's an excellent drive, towns are spaced out about 25-40 miles apart, and it was very enjoyable to not feel the stress of driving faster than I wanted to.

Whatever you choose, hope you have a good safe trip out here to colourful Colorado !!

From the Chicago area we always take I-80 to and from Denver. When heading directly to AZ we drop down I-55, I-44 and across I-40.

This April the trip across I-80 was fine, no particularly bad stretches of pavement. Only issue we run into most years is spring winds in Iowa, can be nasty some days.

Not sure about 80, but 70 is in excellent condition west of the Mississippi.