I’m a pretty positive, optimistic guy that is not easily angered and I have a very slow burning fuse for my temper. But I am to the point that I will travel several miles out of the way to avoid terrible roads while pulling Big Red.

Anyone know of or thought of a database to help avoid some of the worst roads?

I just traveled from Orlando to Little Rock and back.

Birmingham - horrible. Don’t know a way around it.
Memphis - double horrible from Olive Branch to about 10 miles inside Arkansas

Coming home I took US65 southeast to Vicksburg, I20 east to Jackson, then US49 southeast through Hattisburg to Mobile and I-10 to I-75. All this was really good road EXCEPT US49 from Jackson to Florence, MS. Absolutely atrocious and won’t do it again, just because of that 10 miles.

Anyway, sorry for the rant and does anyone know a good resource for road quality?

Gosh...That's kinda surprising...I can't leave our driveway without encountering road construction on every road within a 500 mile radius. I don't know which would be worse. Rough roads driving 5 mph or construction zones driving at 5 mph...:S

You know, some parts of the Interstate system are really great and some are just BAD, BAD, BAD!!!!!

We just did the transit from Southern California to Middle TN via the I-10 -> I-20 -> i-30 -> I-40. Most was above average based on years past but I agree both east and west of Memphis on the I-30 and I-40 are double horrible and I'll raise you by 2X double horrible this year.

Drive slow, be safe and look for that happy place that we all know is within us :blink:

I agree Birmingham is atrocious; especially if you get off the freeway and head west-north-west toward Tupelo, MS. Told myself I'd never pull through there again.

Sadly, I've found a rode that trumps it. At all cost, avoid 491 between Shiprock and Gallup, NM. I honestly felt my rig was going to be ripped off the back of my truck! Its a 4-lane highway with a speed limit of 65mph, but if you can avg 20, your doing good. I remember driving that highway and seeing road crews laying down new highway in front of me. I was ecstatic, but after crossing it, it was just as bad as the old surface. It was a series of speed bumps practically the whole way.

I headed to Albuquerque and ordered the shackle and bushing kit, and had them installed before I continued my trip. I've warned everyone I know to avoid that highway and this looks like a good opportunity to warn fellow members of the ROG... Safe travels!!

We just parked the Redwood in the driveway here in Ontario Canada after returning from southern California, and we used the same roads as Ken above, no fun!

That section west of Memphis seems to have been worked on for 6 years now, still not complete. The other "fun" section is I-75 through Toledo Ohio, it improves north of there but once you hit Michigan, it's "Mexico north" in terms of road quality. They have closed I-75 southbound north of Monroe to Detroit for 2 years to fix it, probably north bound will follow, rally attendees please note!

I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis has the highest percentage of trucks of any highway in the nation, over 60%. And I-30 between Little Rock and Dallas runs right up there in truck traffic. With that volume of trucks and recent developments like the super-single tires on the big rigs, it is only going to get harder to keep a road in good shape. Add to that the fact that no one wants to pay more fuel tax and you know where that leaves us.

Instead of doing away with the railroads and downgrading the train system 40 years ago, they should have done the opposite and upgraded that the rail system. That put all the trucks on the highway system which was not designed for all these heavy trucks.

Exactly. It was the railroads who screwed not only themselves but us also. When JIT manufacturing came around the railroads balked and told the manufacturers that you will get it when we get it there. The trucking industry was born in response to this and you know the rest.

We just parked the Redwood in the driveway here in Ontario Canada after returning from southern California, and we used the same roads as Ken above, no fun!

That section west of Memphis seems to have been worked on for 6 years now, still not complete. The other "fun" section is I-75 through Toledo Ohio, it improves north of there but once you hit Michigan, it's "Mexico north" in terms of road quality. They have closed I-75 southbound north of Monroe to Detroit for 2 years to fix it, probably north bound will follow, rally attendees please note!

Michigan roads (particularly I-94) gets a lot of semi traffic because it runs parallel to Indiana's toll road. Many drivers by-pass paying tolls and use the 94 corridor. One company took matters into it's own hands on fixing the situation. Ashby's Sterling Ice Cream donates 1% of it's proceeds from the sale of the flavor "Michigan Pot Hole". It is the best ice cream you will ever put in your mouth!

Unfortunately, you can only find the ice cream in ice cream shops and some KOA's. 🙁
https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/dining/sylvia-rector/2015/03/17/michigan-pot-hole-ice-cream/24897935/