Pit Stop maps 700,000+ places across all 19,675 interstate exits in America. That database powers the app. It also answers questions nobody has counted before. We publish what we find here — journalists and bloggers are welcome to cite anything with a link.
QUARTERLY REPORTThe state of America's 19,675 exits before the last big drive of summer: the white space no brand has claimed, the most-searched exits, and a free Labor Day data cut for brand teams.
BORDER WARSheetz holds 365 interstate exits, Wawa 276 — and they share only 21. Eight of them are on I-95 in Virginia. We mapped the whole front line.
CHAINSThe longest chain-free stretch of interstate for 20 major brands. Panera's is 537 miles. Eleven of the twenty records are on the same West Texas road.
SEARCH DATA45,000+ searches across our 23,000 exit guides. The #1 exit is on I-40 in Tennessee — and its exact twin exit number in North Carolina is #4.
STATE LINESThe de facto welcome brand at every state's border exits. New England is a Dunkin' curtain, Maryland belongs to Royal Farms, and Arizona's is somehow Cinnabon.
EXIT ECONOMICSBreezewood, PA: a few hundred residents, 11 hotels, 12 gas stations, 20 restaurants. What happens when the road forces every car to stop.
THE SOUTH1,547 Waffle House exits, and one precise northernmost point on every highway. The border bulges through Ohio, sags in the Midwest, and on I-95 the South starts in Maryland.
BORDERSCasino exits are 70% overrepresented within 8 miles of a state border. Primm, West Wendover, and American gambling law, visible from the off-ramp.
COFFEE137 miles of I-40 across the Mojave without a single coffee at any exit, and the hundred-mile coffee deserts hiding in the inhabited Southeast.
FUEL101 miles of I-70 in Utah with no fuel at any exit, the famous last-chance towns, and the turnpike asterisk.
RANKINGSThe full top ten by services, the Route 66 winner for best true road-trip exit, and the bracket coming this fall.
CEMETERIESYou pass a graveyard every ten interstate miles and never notice. I-40 passes 279 of them, Tennessee buries every other state, and ten miles of I-26 pass fifteen. Counted because of a cow game.
BRANDSDunkin' controls half of I-95. Starbucks owns I-5. McDonald's runs everything in between. What 19,675 exits reveal about the chains that rule the road.
FOOD DESERTS2,440 of America's interstate exits have nothing to eat. Where the hungriest stretches of highway are, and how far you'll drive before the next meal.
CINCINNATIAll 52 exits of America's longest beltway, counted: 2,186 businesses, 1,162 places to eat, and the one hometown chain that outnumbers McDonald's.