"O. Sami Saydjari"
I'm not familiar with this route but did you do a great circle route
*and*
plot the actual great circle route on the chart to determine the
'conflicts'? I assume you are using a GPS to fly and it will follow the
great circle route using direct routing but it is not always obvious
what
that line looks like on the chart unless you plot a few points. A fuel
or
rest stop can change the entire equation once fuel prices are factored
in.

Well, I used the route planning software available at the duats website.
I picked the low-level victor airway that it recommended....and thats
the one that had the conflicts. How does one directly find the great
circle route during flight planning (I assume my GPS uses great cricle
when it does a direct-to course)? I figured I would be better off on
victor airways as a matter of extra safety, in case my GPS fails...but I
am open to be talked out of that viewpoint.

I use the AOPA flight planner and I'm not sure what engine it uses for
determining routes. Might be DUATS. In any case, I can select GPS direct
routing which makes a great circle route (or something close) or I can
select low level victor airway routing. If you are using a GPS for
navigation, there's little reason to take the victor routing unless ATC
'demands' it as they tend to do around the Wash DC area for example. I
assume your duats flight planner will plan a direct route and supply
waypoints that can be plotted so that you can see what it looks like on a
chart.

Map projections do not result in the shortest real distance between 2 points
being a straight line on the chart. Sometimes the difference is enough to
be surprising. For example, when I fly to Florida from the Raleigh area, I
have to fly around a sizeable restricted area near Fayetteville. The map
tells me to fly east of the area. A more careful examination of the great
circle route tells me to fly west. The difference is not that great but it
causes me to choose a different refueling stop for my slow, short legged
bird.