Top Ten Longest Highways

March 19, 2010

There are numerous long highways around the world which makes it easy to travel from one place to another. Given below are some of the notable longest highways in the world.

1. The Trans-Canada Highway

This highway extends a long 4,860 miles across Canada. The road starts in Vancouver Island, British Columbia and crosses the Continental Divide, 10 provinces, 5 time zones and ends in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The highway is not a single route and varies in size. An adventurous traveler can take various routes in some places while crossing the highway.

2. The Trans-Siberian Highway

This refers to group of several federal highways that extend throughout Russia ranging from the Baltic Sea of the Atlantic Ocean to the Japan Sea of the Pacific Ocean. The route is called the AH6 in Asia. Its length is more than 11,000 kilometers and it extends from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok.

3. Route 6

The original Route 6 designated in 1925 extended from Provincetown, Massachusetts, to Brewster, New York. Later it was referred to as the “Roosevelt Highway,” a name that was given to the entire transcontinental Route 6. This highway spanned further to Greeley, Colorado in 1931. It was extended south to Long Beach and westward to Bishop, California.

4. 401 or MacDonald Cartier Freeway

The 401 or MacDonald Cartier Freeway starts at the Detroit-Windsor Ambassador Bridge and culminates at the Quebec border near Montreal. The highway lies in the middle of the town though it was built out in the country side originally.

5. Interstate 90 (I-90)

The longest Interstate Highway in the U.S, this highway extends up to 3,099.07 miles (4,987 km). It runs parallel to the U.S Route 20 for the most part. Its eastern terminus is in Boston and western terminus is in Seattle. It crosses the Continental divide just east of Butte, Montana.

6. Interstate 80 (I-80)

The I-80 connects San Francisco to Teaneck, New Jersey. It closely approximates the Lincoln Highway route and traces other important travel pathways such as Oregon Trail, California Trail and the complete route of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

7. Australia’s Highway 1

This highway joins all the mainland state capitals and is a network of highways which navigate through the entire Australian continent. It spans at least 25,000 km and hence is one of the longest national highways in the world.

8. Pan-American Highway

This highway comprises a network of many highways and stretches from Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska to the Ushuaia, in Cape Horn, Argentina. The Darien Gap is an 87 kilometre rainforest break. Apart from this the highway is well connected and connects the Americas very well. This highway also passes through several ecological types and diverse climates from cold mountain passes to dense jungles.

9. The Tarim Desert Highway

This highway extends through the Taklamakan desert from north to south. It extends to 552km; For at least 446km, it crosses through several sand dunes and other uninhabited areas. In 1995 the highway was constructed to transport oil from China’s largest inland basin namely the Tarim Basin. Otherwise called the Cross- Desert highway, it links the cities of Minfeng and Luntai on the southern and northern limits of the Tarim Basin.

10. Highway 409

This highway is in Ontario. The 400-series highways are actually freeways with controlled access which span throughout the southern limits of Ontario in Canada. Highway 409 is actually a short freeway that is used as a traffic bypass for vehicles approaching the airport or Highway 427 since these cannot be reached at the mega interchange between highways 427 and 401. This highway is better known as Belfield Expressway.