Best Route From Phoenix to Vegas (Scottsdale, Surprise: travel, home, college)

[ivanabacowboy]

I went to visit my sister in Vegas this weekend. From Phoenix (precisely say Scottsdale Rd & the 101).

Now granted I grew up in the east (Ohio) where in general I could travel all the way down to Key West from Cleveland and never go more than 20ish or so miles give or take on average between at least some semblence of a town and/or at least a rest stop with a real gas station and McDonalds.

The route she gave me was:

101 to West Bell to Grand/60 West to 93 to 40 back to 93 to 515 to 95.

Is there a better route??????

My observations:

Once you leave Surprise, there is not a city which is more than a hiccup UNTIL you hit Vegas some oh 275 miles or so later. Wickenburg is a blip that is a run down 5 mile long pothole that AZDOT slept on their way through. Kingman is West Nowheresville.

Posted speed limit most of the route is 65. Set cruise control at 80 and people freaking try to run you over because they are going 90.

Hoover Dam is cool.

The new bridge over Hoover Dam is one freaking scary scary high bridge.

I now understand why AZ does not have toll roads. Because no one would pay to drive on them. For most of the 250+/- mile portion of the route in Arizona, at least 80% of it is not even what I would consider a real highway. In many places it is just 2 lane roads going 65 mph (see above comment on speed limit) with oncoming traffic and passing zones every so many miles. Granted most of the roads were in very good condition (excepting Wickenberg, a stretch of I think it is 40 that was like driving over gravel at 75mph posted speed, and closer to home a pothole on Princess Drive I always seem to hit...).

That said: the drive is very very scenic. Some gorgeous scenery. Just nowhere to go to the bathroom for like over 100 miles at a time lol!

Final summary: Vegas is a nice place to visit and the strip is awesome. But I wouldnt want to live there. There isnt much to Nevada other than Vegas tho. Unless you ski (I dont). Much prefer Arizona.

[sablebaby]

That's the route that we always take with no problems. I think you're a little harsh about Wickenburg though. We can do the trip in 4 hours and yes there are parts that we get up to 95 mph. There are plenty of areas to stop to use the bathroom. It's a very pretty route through parts of it. Also, there are a couple of other threads asking the same thing , you may want to look at the answers there.

Looking back at your post, I thought you were going there soon and needed advice not that you just came back from there.

[Artliquide]

I love that roadtrip. If you're not in a hurry, you can deviate and see all kinds of cool little towns and ghost towns. Slow down in Wickenburg though. We had all kinds of stares going through there, and I hear that they definitely stop outsiders for mild speeding. It's a cool looking town though.

We also stopped at Hoover Dam and took the hardhat tour. Definitely worth it.

[JoePAz]

So is the Bridge over the dam done? I will be making trip to Utah via las Vegas in June with a trailer so the bridge would be nice to use if open.

As for a route... I would go north to carefree hwy (state route 74) and then catch 93 to wickenburg.

[onehotzonie]

Save the hassles of the hyways and byways and fly there!

One hour in the air tops...happy landings!

[rambrush]

I came back across the dam last night and was amazed at the progress. Everything was lit up. That thing is going to be a trip to drive over.

[ivanabacowboy]

I dont think the bridge is done as part of it still appears to be missing I think. There is a website that says completion will be 2010.

Does 74 go through civilization or is it just like the route I took?

sablebaby, I was trying to see if there was another route. I didnt see many places to stop and go to the bathroom or anything. Unless maybe I just missed something and was looking on the wrong side of the road?

I do want to go back to the dam tho and actually take the tour. It looks like it would be really cool.

[JoePAz]

Originally Posted by ivanabacowboy

Does 74 go through civilization or is it just like the route I took?

No.

Actually going that way avoids civilized areas more since you "get out of Phoenix" sooner that way. I guess since I grew up here I always liked the long streches of driving with nothing in between. Seeing a town every 20 miles would sure get old. When I in college in Massachuesetts I would "drive off into the county" and it bugged me to no end that I never left civilization. I hated the lack of pure open space. I guess that is why I had to move back to Az.

[nitram]

[quote=ivanabacowboy;2944380] . I didnt see many places to stop and go to the bathroom or anything. Unless maybe I just missed something and was looking on the wrong side of the road?
QUOTE]

There are bushes on both sides of the road. Do as the natives do, pick out a scenic one, do your thing, jump back in the vehicle, travel on.

[ivanabacowboy]

LOL nitram! Being a woman, a cactus up my backside doesnt exactly evoke warm memories lol....

The positive is the drive is very very very pretty. And kudos to Arizona for not junking it up with ugly billboards every 10 feet like they do in Ohio. So gas up, go potty, crank the music and buckle in I get the feeling is the best route. ;-0