Tired of the endless logjam of cars in front of and behind you as you head to work on the 405 or Interstate 5?

Head east, frazzled Portland commuter.

GPS-tracking company Geotab has identified the "quietest route" in every state by pulling together traffic-count data from the Highway Performance Monitoring System.

In Oregon, the loneliest one is U.S. 395, offering mile upon mile of empty blacktop, with rolling greenery on each side. This being the internet age, you don't even have to drive out there to find out if it's for you. On Geotab's interactive map you can scroll along the road as if you're in a car.

Wagontire, on U.S. 395 between Lakeview and Burns, in 1961. (The Oregonian)

But you shouldn't rely on the computer. The route is something to experience in person. Even without the benefit of Big Data, The Oregonian's former travel reporter, Terry Richard, wrote in 2009 that U.S. 395 was "most likely Oregon's loneliest federal highway." He also insisted it was "one of the most scenic in the West."

"U.S. 395 in Oregon has two designated state scenic corridors: Battle Mountain Forest and Ukiah-Dale," Richard wrote. "Both are managed as state parks and offer plenty of roadside scenery, with lots of mature ponderosa pines. ... The route mixes more pine-forest scenery between John Day and Burns, then switches over to some of Oregon's more bleak desert terrain at Wagontire, before leaving the state in the well-watered Goose Lake Valley south of Lakeview."

Sounds nice, but what if that's still not idyllic and lonely enough for you? You can check out a ranking of the most scenic empty roads in the country.

And if you just want truly empty emptiness? The quietest of the country's quiet routes is the James W. Dalton Highway, running some 400 miles from Fairbanks to Deadhorse in Alaska.

-- Douglas Perry