AutoWeek Magazine Selects America's 50 Best Driving Routes

Windy, Scenic, Spectacular - These Roads Make Driving Fun Again

DETROIT, July 18 -- With the average price of gas exceeding $4.00 a gallon and bumper-to-bumper traffic throughout most of America's cities, most drivers in the United States are feeling more pain than pleasure behind the wheel. This begs the question: Can driving still be fun? In celebration of AutoWeek's 50th Anniversary, North America's only weekly automotive-enthusiast magazine is bringing the joy of driving back to the roads with its selection of "The 50 Best U.S. Driving Routes." The list covers AutoWeek editors' picks of the most scenic, beautiful and open roads from across the country, just in time for those end-of-summer road trips.

Highlights from the AutoWeek's "50 Best U.S. Driving Routes" include:

1. California: Those in-the-know eschew the Pacific Coast Highway and do this instead: Take the 5 south, exit at Route 74 at San Juan Capistrano, and head east. This road goes all the way through Hemet and up to Idyllwild.

2. Florida: Florida's roads are as varied as its landscape. AutoWeek suggests a nice loop in central Florida that starts in Wesley Chapel and ends up in Clermont.

3. Texas: The Texas hill country is chock full of good driving roads and RR-47 between Utopia and Bandera could serve as the poster child for the region.

4. Michigan: Upper Peninsula offers some great driving and spectacular views. Heading east on Hiawatha National Forest, routes take you through scenery that looks like locations for the Discovery Channel's "Sunrise Earth" series.

5. New York: Drivers can pick up Taconic State Parkway about an hour North of the city in Westchester County. Narrow lines are bordered by Armco on one side, and granite walls on the other.

For complete details regarding the best driving routes, check out AutoWeek's 50th Anniversary issue (copies available by contacting 888-288-6954) or visit http://www.autoweek.com/50roads. Don't see your favorite stretch of road on the list? Go to AutoWeek.com and post your favorite U.S. route.

AutoWeek is America's only weekly automotive enthusiast magazine. It provides passionate consumer readers with up-to-date information as no other source can. For 50 years, AutoWeek has been providing readers with unbiased, relevant, insightful and timely content, while delivering the latest vehicle reviews and coverage of trends, motorsports, events, personalities and auto shows.

At AutoWeek.com, visitors receive by-the-minute news updates and can also be part of a greater car community where they're able to share their thoughts, post personal reviews and register to win unique automotive experiences and e-mail news alerts. Through its print and online products, AutoWeek is an indispensable source of need-to-know and want-to-know information, making its readers themselves car experts.