World’s longest road
The Pan-American Highway is the longest road in the world. It runs from Fairbanks, Alaska to Buenos Aires, Argentina, stretching 29,800 miles (47,958 km). But it was never completed. A portion called the Darien Gap, mostly jungle about 100 miles (160 km) long located in Panama and Colombia, remains uncompleted. Cars and passengers are transported around the gap by ship.
The Pan-American Highway is a network of roads, each with its twists and turns. Measuring the highway’s distance as the crow flies makes it about 16,000 miles (25,750 km) long.
World’s longest straight road
The world’s longest straight road – thus without any bends – is in Saudi Arabia, connecting the Haradh area with Badha on the UAE border. The road, Highway 85, is about 160 miles (260 km) long.
Australia’s longest straight road is the famous “90 Mile Straight.” It runs between Balladonia and Caiguna on the 1,036 mile (1,668 km) long Eyre Highway across the flat, arid Nullarbor Plain. (The Eyre Highway is the main road that connects South Australia with the south of Western Australia.) The “90 Mile Straight” actually is 91 miles (146.6 km) long; all asphalt without a single curve.
The Nullarbor Plain hosts the “World’s Longest Golf Course”, the Nullarbor Links. Golfers play holes at various roadhouses and roadside stops along the road.
The world’s longest straight section of railway also crosses the Nullarbor Plain, covering a 297 miles (478 km) stretch between the 797 km post west of Ooldea and the 1275 km post west of Loongana on the Trans-Australian Railway from Perth to Sydney via Adelaide.
The longest absolute straight road in North America is a 31 mile (50 km) stretch, between Beaver Creek and Gackle on North Dakota State Highway 46, which itself is otherwise considered North America’s longest straight road, running for 123 miles (198 km), crossing the Red River Valley, between the cities Oxbow and Streeter.
World’s longest and shortest street
Canada claimed the longest street in the world for a while. But the 1,178 miles (1,896 km) long Yonge Street, which starts in Toronto and runs through Ontario towns and wilderness, is interspersed with Highway 11 and lost its listing in the Guinness World Records.
New York’s Broadway runs all the way up New York State, covering more than 400 miles (650 km) but it is not called “Broadway” all the way.
The longest street in world is in the state of Pará in the northern region of Brazil; it is 311 miles (500 km) long.
The longest avenue in the world is Avenida Rivadavia, Buenos Aires, Argentina – it is 22 miles (35 km) long.
For the record, the shortest street in the world is Ebenezer Place in Wick, Caithness, Scotland – it is only 6 ft 9 in (2,05 metres) long.
Video of the 90 Mile Straight
Also see: World’s longest bridges