back roads
Scenic alternative paths
Back roads are secondary routes through rural or less-developed areas, typically narrower and less traveled than highways or main roads.
Taking the back roads means avoiding major thoroughfares, often for scenic value or to bypass traffic: We took the back roads through the countryside.
The term carries connotations of slower pace, local character, and hidden discoveries.
- bywayMinor secondary route
- side roadsSecondary, smaller thoroughfares
- dirt roadsUnpaved travel surfaces
- laneDesignated travel strip
- side streetsSecondary urban thoroughfares
detour · scenic routes · shortcuts · country lane · dirt track · logging roads · alleys · rural routes · scenic byways · Sunday drive · pickup trucks · maps · hedgerows · hidden · backwoods · middle of nowhere · small town America · dusty
- road typesscenic route, dirt roads, country roads, gravel roads, winding roads
- travel routesRoute 66, Pacific Coast Highway, trade routes, trade route, scenic route
- Back Roadscountry roads, country lanes, dirt roads, gravel roads, rural routes
- traffic shortcutsside streets, cut-throughs, rat runs
- rural roadsgravel roads, dirt roads, country lane, dirt tracks, country roads
- waysway, way in, way out, this way, that way
back roadsinterstate
Between political regions
highway · freeway · expressway · motorway · main road
back roadsdirect route
Straightest path available
fastest route · shortest path · straight shot · bee-line · as the crow flies