Capitals Aligned

A query landed on Twelve Mile Circle from a search engine as they often do. Our anonymous visitor was curious about “capital cities interstate.” It took me a little while to figure out what he really wanted to know. I believe he was trying to find the small number of U.S. state capital cities that are not served by Interstate Highways. Fortunately I covered that topic previously. Anyway that’s my guess and that’s where the search engine pointed him so hopefully all went well.

Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Massachusetts State Capitol Building in Boston

However that got me thinking about the query differently. What if I took it literally? Let’s imagine a scenario where someone wished to visit state capitals on a long-distance trip. I don’t know, maybe our traveler wanted to create a photo collection of state capitol buildings or something. Don’t be judgmental, people do that! For some reason he wanted to remain on a single Interstate Highway the whole time between points. Which Interstate Highway connects the most state capitals?

I didn’t conduct an exhaustive examination so I can’t guarantee that these are the absolute best results. I think they’re pretty good though.


Interstate 80

Interstate 80 seems to be the most optimal example to me. Five state capitals extend along its length: Des Moines, Iowa; Lincoln, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Sacramento, California. This can be accomplished with 27 hours of driving over a distance of 1,724 miles (2,774 kilometres).

I’ll add a little caveat at this point. The highways I examined may not always plow directly through each city. Sometimes they provided a bypass in close proximity while skirting the city center. Thus, whether a highway actually serves a city depends upon one’s tolerance to proximity. The Interstate 80 example seemed to be the cleanest one with minimal bypassing based upon my quick eyeballing.


Interstate 95

I found another example in the crowded northeast corridor along Interstate 95. However, I wasn’t too surprised. States tend to be smaller with capitals located near the Atlantic coast, an artifact of colonial times when ships were a primary means of transportation. Five state capitals aligned again: Augusta, Maine; Boston, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Trenton, New Jersey; and Richmond, Virginia.

Perhaps Boston might be the ringer here. I-95 bypasses the city core by several miles (map). I can sense an opportunity for someone to claim that I-95 doesn’t really run through Boston. Perhaps one could also add the national capital, Washington, DC to this list. I know, it’s a slippery slope. All of these capitals could be claimed during a 747 mile (1,200 km) trek. Under the absolutely best conditions it would require 14 hours of pure driving hell. This is not a journey for the timid.


Interstate 35

So I’m going to call Interstate 35 a four-plus example. There are definitely four state capitals: St. Paul, Minnesota; Des Moines, Iowa; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Austin, Texas. The “plus” pertains to Topeka, Kansas.

Topeka isn’t located on I-35. However, it’s found on a spur of that highway with the designation I-335. I might be willing to accept that except it’s a fifty mile (80 km.) spur. It doesn’t have sufficient proximity — in my opinion — to count as being located along I-35.


Other 4’s

There were three other Interstate Highways that I found with four capital cities along their routes.

  • Columbia, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Montgomery, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi on Interstate 20
  • Raleigh, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Interstate 40
  • Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Topeka, Kansas; and Denver, Colorado on Interstate 70

I-20 seems to offer a particularly good return on investment. The total driving distance would be a relatively compact 624 miles (1,000 km) along a nice route without the nail-biting traffic found in the northeast. I discovered a US Highway that also fit the bill. US Route 50 connects Annapolis, Maryland; Jefferson City, Missouri; Carson City, Nevada and Sacramento, California.


Closest Pairs

Looking at pairs, which two are the closest together?

  • Boston, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island (50 mi/80 km) on Interstate 95
  • Boston, Massachusetts to Concord, New Hampshire (68 miles/110 km) on Interstate 93
  • Concord, New Hampshire to Montpelier, Vermont (118 miles/190 km) on Interstate 89

Another non-interstate, US Route 13, also does remarkably well with Dover, Delaware to Trenton, New Jersey (113 mi/182 km)


Breaking the Model

And the most frustrating? Denver, Colorado and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania are both on Interstate 76. Hartford, Connecticut and Boise, Idaho are both on Interstate 84. However, one cannot drive contiguously using the same highway between the pairs. The segments, despite common numbering, are separated by thousands of miles.

This was a fun although completely unproductive way to spend an entire evening.


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12 responses to “Capitals Aligned”

  1. Jon P Avatar
    Jon P

    US 6 hits five capitals: Providence, Hartford, Des Moines, Lincoln and Denver. Yet another reason why it’s one of my favorites.

    P.S. I-95 misses West Roxbury by less than a mile.

  2. Ken Avatar
    Ken

    Denver and Cheyenne are 99 miles apart on I-25.

    Also on your orginal map along I-80 (which I have driven all of, but not all at once)you can come within 30 miles of Carson City, NV, making it a 4+ in my book.

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      Agree on both counts. For Carson City specifically, the I-580 project would make it a 4+.

  3. Phil Sites Avatar

    That’s a wonderful project that photographer has going. I’m a bit lacking on my state capitals despite being only a handful of states away from completing the 50. Juneau will be my 25th soon.

    That does make me wonder, I read somewhere that North Dakota is the least visited state (and also the last state of people getting to all 50 – I believe you fit that example, Tom). I assume that’s because North Dakota really isn’t in anyone’s typical travel path – for business or leisure. Makes me wonder what the least visited state capital is? I’d throw Juneau out there, since it requires a flight (or a cruise I guess). I would have considered Montpelier, but it is on the Interstate… Bismarck? Just because of it’s association with North Dakota? Maybe Helena, MT or Pierre, SD?

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      You are exactly right, Phil. North Dakota was my #50 because it wasn’t on a convenient path during any of my long rides and I had no other reason to go there. When it became the only remaining state, well then I had a reason, and I went to Fargo specifically.

      Juneau, by the way, probably has more visitors than one might otherwise think. I’ve been there twice (once for vacation and once for work) and both times it was mobbed my cruise boat passengers. It’s a regular stop for ships heading up the Inside Passage on the way to Glacier Bay.

      1. Ken Avatar
        Ken

        I would think that for capitals, Pierre would be last after Bismarck, since Bismarck is right on I-94 and Pierre is not on an Interstate as well as Bismarck being more than 4 times bigger than Pierre.

        On an unrelated note, I travelled for work and went through 4 state capitals in one day. Starting in Denver, I traveled to Cheyenne (because I-76 was closed) then travelled through Pierre on I-83 and ending the day in Bismarck. It was a long day.

  4. John of Sydney Avatar
    John of Sydney

    Here in Australia you can visit all mainland state capitals (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth as well as one territory capital (Darwin) on australian Highway 1. Only Hobart in Tasmania and Canberra miss out.
    It’s a bit further though – about 14500 km or 9000 miles.
    The highway does go through each city – right through the centre in most cases.

    1. David Overton Avatar
      David Overton

      The highway from Burnie to Hobart is officially part of Highway 1, so Hobart doesn’t miss out. Of course you can’t actually drive across Bass Strait, you’d need to take the Melbourne-Devonport Ferry. Then there is the 3.1km drive from the Westgate Freeway to Station Pier in Melbourne and the 2.5km from the Devonport ferry terminal to the Bass Highway which are not part of Highway 1, so there’s still a gap even if you ignore the ferry.

      1. John of Sydney Avatar
        John of Sydney

        You learn something new every day!
        I imagine the Burnie-Hobart road was designated as highway 1 so it could be said that all capitals were connected by it.
        If the Kings Highway (Bateman’s Bay- Canberra) were redesignated then all capitals would be “on” highway 1. (just an idle sunday arvo thought)

  5. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    As long as DC counts as a capital for this purpose, US 50 hits 5…
    Sacramento, CA
    Carson City, NV
    Jefferson City, MO
    Washington DC
    Annapolis, MD

  6. Ariel Dybner Avatar
    Ariel Dybner

    US 1 hits six plus the District of Columbia. The six:

    Boston, MA
    Providence, RI
    Trenton, NJ
    Richmond, VA
    Raleigh, NC
    Columbia, SC

  7. Paul Lyman Avatar
    Paul Lyman

    As I was driving I-94 between Bismarck and Milwaukee last night, I wondered this exact question (and found your site via Google when I got home). I came up (very roughly) with the same candidates as you. However, in my map-deprived state, I was convinced that Annapolis and Dover were on I-95. Alas.

    However, I think I-94 deserves an honorable mention. Hitting Bismarck, St. Paul, and Madison in contiguous states is pretty good (695 miles, though). Alas, it misses Lansing in Michigan by a bit. I-5 also hits 3, in a virtually identical distance. (I would have thought Olympia to Sacramento was much, much farther than Bismarck to Madison. Who knew?)

    Also, a comment on your comment on Harrisburg and Denver. I contend that they actually ARE on the same road. True, you cannot get from one to another without traveling on a highway with a different *number* but you can stay on the same *road*. What I mean is that when you are driving west on I-76 in Pennsylvania, the route number just magically turns to I-80 when the two roads cross. In contrast, when you are traveling west on I-80, you would need to take an exit to STAY on I-80. (Otherwise, you find yourself on I-76.) To my mind, I-80 is two different roads east and west of I-76.
    Similarly, in Colorado, when I-76 peels off from I-80 and heads to Denver, you need to actively take an exit to stay on I-80. If instead you stay on the same road, the name changes to I-76 and you find yourself in the Mile-High City.

    Here is one more nit to pick. I-95 does not go the way you think. In particular, it does not actually go through Trenton. I grew up near there, and I (and everyone else) feels like it goes to Trenton, but due to weird circumstances, the actual routing of the officially designated I-95 is very odd between Philly and NYC.

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