Friday Eye Candy: America’s Most Scenic Abandoned Highways

Unused roadways provide opportunities for exploration and recreation.

1 minute read

January 12, 2024, 5:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Low shot of Route 66 signs on asphalt with small abandoned building on roadside on old Route 66 near Amboy, California.

Old Route 66 near Amboy, California. | Alex Garaev / Adobe Stock

In a slideshow on Jalopnik, Erin Marquis highlights some of the most scenic stretches of abandoned roads in the United States. Although now closed to cars for various reasons, these roads have, in some cases, become beloved community assets.

No two stretches of abandoned road are alike. Some have returned to nature, some serve as historic sites and other sit silently and forgotten besides busy roads, looking on at a future they never had or a past long removed.

The roads featured include parts of the former Route 66, which stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles and features kitschy diners and abandoned ghost towns, a stunning former highway that winds through red rocks in Arizona, Pennsylvania’s ‘Goat Path Expressway,’ a defunct suspension bridge in Arizona, and a former highway and popular biking destination above Los Angeles. 

Friday, January 5, 2024 in Jalopnik

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