I was doodling around, as I sometimes do, thinking about the differences between East Coast Travel and Western Travel. What brought this up is an upcoming trip to NYC and I realized I do not know the relationship of the area airports to the city. When I lived back in the DC area, I would usually drive to NYC, or take a train. I never really thought about flying unless there were extraordinary circumstances.
But I worked out some charts to compare a drive from DC to Boston with a drive from Albuquerque to Denver. Both routes by Interstate A-D on I-25 and D-B on I-95, I-84,and I-90 (I could have taken I-95 all the way but the distance would be different.) Both routes are about 445 miles.
To give some context to the routes, I noted the population of the different MSAs (Metro Statistical Area) each route went through or by.
| Interstate | Distance | Cities | MSA Pop |
| DC | 446 | Washington | 5,358,000 |
| I-95 | Baltimore | 2,667,000 | |
| Philadelphia | 5,838,000 | ||
| Trenton | 367,000 | ||
| New York City | 19,000,000 | ||
| I-84 | Bridgeport | 900,000 | |
| I-90 | New Haven | 845,000 | |
| Hartford | 1,190,000 | ||
| BOS | Boston | 4,523,000 | |
| Total | 40,688,000 |
There are more than 40 million people living along the DC-Boston route.That is a mind-numbingly lot of people.
Out here:
| Interstate | Distance | Cities | MSA Pop |
| Albuquerque | 448 | Albuquerque | 846,000 |
| Santa Fe | 144,000 | ||
| I-25 | Pueblo | 157,000 | |
| Colorado Springs | 617,000 | ||
| Denver | Denver | 2,506,000 | |
| Total | 4,270,000 |
The total number of people living along the Albuquerque-Denver route is less that the population of the Boston MSA. More than half of Colorado lives in the Denver MSA. About half of New Mexico lives in the ABQ and Santa Fe MSAs.
And the Western route is only in 2 states. The Eastern route passes through 7 states and districts.