Best route to Asheville, NC

Whatever route WAZE says to use.

Avoid Atlanta traffic

stay away from Atlanta. They are doing construction on 75 and it backs up traffic pass the 75/85 split. Not to mention 85 is a parking lot until you get past Gwinnett County.

That all depends on what time you're going through Atlanta.

The shortest route (from BR at least) is to go through Atlanta via Mobile -> Montgomery.

Not sure why this hasn't been upvoted. If you are driving without the use of WAZE or other traffic monitoring GPS software, you are doing life wrong.

I use it even when I am only going 10 miles down the road.

We are coming from Nola and staying the night at a friends in Birmingham. I've done 65 to 85 through atl a few times when i lived upstate South Carolina. I find the atl traffic is hit or miss pending on what time of day you're driving through.

I've never done the scenic route avoiding Atlanta. So just seeing if it was a better route.

Isn't there a travel board?

Unless you can be certain you are going to breeze right through ATL, go through Chattanooga, then Knoxville.

The only question mark going that way is if there is trouble along I-40 in the gorge (TN/NC border). Other than that it's smooth sailing and a much prettier drive.

Waze is the answer that you seek

I have driven it both ways and they are about the same if you don't hit traffic. The problem is that you will almost definitely hit traffic in Atlanta or Chattanooga. Chattanooga has horrible traffic as you drive near the river. The Tennessee way has a beautiful drive from Knoxville to Asheville though. You are basically in a deep mountain valley the whole time surrounded by huge mountains.