Roads to avoid

Sandy & Shirley wrote:
As stated in another post, we are planning a 6 week trip from Baltimore to Oakland and back, southern route over and northern back. Thanks to all of the information so far, we are placing a lot of “dots” on the map for places to stop for a day or so and will soon start to connect as many dots as possible.

We will be driving a 37 foot Class A, gas not diesel, and we will be pulling a Ford Focus, about 3,000 lbs. Are there any routes through the mountains that we should avoid? Do all of the Interstates lower grades, or are some far more difficult to travel.

Again, thanks in advance for all the helpful answers that you can post for us.

Presumably, your southern route would be either I-40/I-20/I-10 selection, and northern would be I-80 or I-90. That leaves I-70 as the NOT selected route, for either direction. Probably a good choice, at least for Colordao.

Though the maximum grade is 6% at the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnels, as well as most of the other passes you would encounter, there would be a lot of Up/Down to traverse, either direction. For some folks it's no big deal. For others, who have no or little mountain driving experience, it can be intimidating. Avoidance resolves that!

On I-80, your highest elevation will be ~9600 feet, and that's between Laramie and Cheyenne WY. There's a significant hill outside of Laramie, climb going EB, decline going WB, with the high point being at the summit east of Laramie. Not really a pass, just a high point on the high plains. Heading WB it's more gradual than EB to the summit.