Interstate vs. Backroads

[Rocketvapor]

right-of-ways for High Power lines.

In some areas you be talking about hunting lanes 

Setting up someplace where you have a long straight view would be better than setting up in front of a Wally World on Black Friday.

[Fort Knox]

I think that depending on how long you had, and what services are available, roads would still be viable.  I would certainly have a plan for multiple routes and modifiable routes if available.  It could go smooth or it could be a nightmare.

I would worry about getting pinned down and or trapped on the interstate.  They are natural ambush creators.  However, the same can be true of rural roads as well.

If law enforcement still exists then I would stick to the main and patrolled roads.

Kyle

[Dino412]

If I had the presence of mind to see that the SWHTF in a month, and at best it would still be an estimated guess, I'd be taking the interstate to the BOL. Too many variables to chance it on backroads. But since I'm not planning on leaving my plantation and defending all I have here, I'd quit my job 2-3 months prior, to start SHTF protocols and procedures and such. Heck,I'd quit my job now if it weren't for the damn Health care!

[Lostinspace]

My guess is most people have never done this before.  We've had to bug out at least 10 times in my life due to approaching hurricanes.  Now here is my .02 worth.  If you're more than about 3-5 days ahead of everyone else your best bet is to get to where you're going as quickly as possible.  I would have no qualms about taking the interstate system.  In fact my two bug out locations are 1550 and 1800 miles from my home.  I've made the trip to both of them numerous times over the last 25 years.  I know that driving straight through will take 30-32 hours, but we usually make the trip in two full days.  I know that if I leave my home and drive straight through to Salina Kansas and spend the night I will get to our destinations by dark the following day and be well rested.  If I'm ahead of the curve I am fine and have no worries.  If it's too late and stuff is too close I have numerous backroads to get there but it's going to add a few hours time.  Ahead of everyone else on the interstate system you will blend in with other travelers and have no issues.  Just practice your routes.  Honestly I can make the 1550-1800 mile trip with no maps, no gps etc because we've made it so many times.  I have two routes to go on depending on weather conditions and both routes are memorized but we do keep road atlases in all vehicles.

[pk47tech]

With that amount of distance to cover you have to think about fuel as well - if everyone is traveling, fuel could become scarce.  I'd agree with getting out 3-5 days early with that distance.

[juaneye]

i'm not going anywhere, my only concern at this point is long term food.  the ocean is just a couple miles in any direction so if I have to fight the seagulls for some shellfish to survive then i'll beat em over the head with a big stick for those soft shell clams.  we have two bridges to protect to keep the undesirables off this peninsula and plenty of billionaires who will be looking for people to protect their homes and families to work for, this is the place where many of the northeast elite will be bugging out to; so no i'm not bugging out anywhere.

[xtriggerman]

 The way I see it, if you have need of a bug out plan, your chances of survival is slim to none. Any time people feel food may get scarce because of any kind of catastrophe, the markets get emptied and travel will be way too dangerous to attempt. There may be a short reprieve from road side murder until the local food supplies have been consumed, but at that point any one traveling will be easy targets to be robed and killed. Its just a fact. It happened to my mothers family and others during WWll. Only at that time the homes and farms were relieved of their food stuff by military and Partizans. In days like those road travelers were picked over raped and killed as a normal thing at least between Belarus and the Ukraine that I know of. Humans haven't changed any since then. Hunger = sub human activity.

[Scara Bandaris]

Depending on how you envision shtf, roads might be cluttered with abandoned vehicles and other debris and impossible to navigate with anything short of Gravedigger. I'd be prepared to have to get out and walk for long distances or invest in an ATV or a dirt bike and make necessary modifications for storage/transportation of other goods and passengers on those vehicles in case even the back roads aren't viable.

Personally, I'm not going anywhere. I did have most of my supplies somewhere elsewhere, but I've decided that I'd rather fight for my home than flee elsewhere so I moved them nearby, accessible but still hidden and not all in one place (aka my home). I'm prepared to weather out financial collapse, food shortage, water shortage, race wars, foreign invaders, criminal elite, and anything else that isn't a biological attack or something on a large scale like an atomic bomb.

 It's kind of hard to prepare for an atom bomb, other than leaving the area and moving somewhere  remote where you're the only one around for hundreds of miles.

[Lostinspace]

Keep in mind the OP said you had about a month BEFORE the SHTF happened to bug out....totally different scenario to doing it AFTER SHTF

[xtriggerman]

 I just cant get my mind around the one month heads up. Its like a law stating we must get a 24 hour warning before any and all power outages. Maybe an asteroid strike would come with a 4 week heads up? When Chernobyl collapsed it took like a week for radioactive rain from it to fall on NY. A Gov study says if the San Andreas goes off the deep end, promissory notes will be toilet paper in 5-7 days. If Thumb lake goes up in a vapor blast, The sun will be blotted out for weeks. Im trying to imagine a 4 week heads up scenario for travel but it seems very unlikely.  Even the good book is more than a bit skeptical...........

1 Thessalonians 5:1–3 Περὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων καὶ τῶν καιρῶν, ἀδελφοί, οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε ὑμῖν γράφεσθαι, αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκριβῶς οἴδατε ὅτι ἡμέρα κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτὶ οὕτως ἔρχεται. ὅταν λέγωσιν· εἰρήνη καὶ ἀσφάλεια, τότε αἰφνίδιος αὐτοῖς ἐφίσταται ὄλεθρος ὥσπερ ἡ ὠδὶν τῇ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσῃ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκφύγωσιν.

“Now, brothers, you don’t need me to to write to you about the times and appointments*, because you know full well that the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night—while they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

*καιρῶν is rather difficult to translate here as it denotes a distinct or fixed period of time, often being used of festal holidays, special feasts, etc. It often has the notion of “the appropriate time,” but that doesn’t communicate the proper sense to an English ear in this passage. As such, I’ve chosen to translate it with “appointments,” which seems to give as close a parallel to the temporal notion expressed here as I can think of.

[Rocketvapor]

"Alexa, when will SHTF?"

[Rocketvapor]

Find your own links but Atlanta has an issue with I-85.
Hope S doesn't Hit The Fan today 

[Rocketvapor]

Looks like Atlanta want's to blame some crack smokers for starting a fire under a critical interstate that the fire department couldn't put out. 
What ever was stored there, like the old tire fire in Philly, was a catastrophe waiting to happen.  Critical infrastructure is just the place to store stuff.  New Orleans even has the police impound yard under an elevated roadway that would cripple the city if it caught on fire.  I wonder if there are any ammo dumps under interstate overpasses? 
Hope fires don't break out when SHTF.  That would hamper travel.   

[Lafayettegregory]

All ya gotta do to cripple this nation is take out a few overpasses.  It worked for the IRA in England. They focused primarily on high tension lines.
 When the trucks do not flow EVERYTHING shuts down. This country would go to a panic state!   I hope our law enforcement is keeping an eye on these issues. I also hope the Atlanta issue causes some changes of using overpasses as storage areas. Even in some of our large cities there are restaurants and other shops under train and highway lines.