When your country hosts at least tens of millions of people, or hundreds of millions in many cases, you need one of the 10 longest highways in the world to connect them. Some of the largest countries in the world, such as the United States, Canada, China, and India have trouble with transportation. After all, airfare is often too inconvenient and expensive for travels. Interconnecting roads present a different hassle, as traffic signals and changing roads can significantly increase the time taken to travel when the route is thousands of kilometers long. Thus, these countries faced a dilemma. To combat this issue, the nations set about constructing highways thousands of kilometers long. These structures are the pinnacle of engineering and represent feats in technology people would have scoffed at initially. These were initially constructed to allow people who lived on the outskirts of cities or the rural areas to easily travel to the bigger cities where they would often find employment.
Of course, some countries weren’t simply content with highways connecting their cities; some countries wanted to be connected to other countries by road as well. This led to the creation of the Pan American highway, which was created to connect nearly all of the countries in both South and North America. An incredible 21 countries are connected by this monstrous highway, which took decades to be completed.
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Highways aren’t only beneficial because they reduce the time taken to travel significant distances. Since the roads are smooth and you can drive at a continuous speed for hundreds if not thousands of miles, it significantly improves your fuel efficiency when compared with a car which has to stop and start consistently. Furthermore, driving in a city or small roads often results in you driving your car in a pothole or a rough part of the road, which can be disastrous for the suspension. Since highways are so smooth and their maintenance is so prompt, your car will fare much better there.
The United States, which has the most number of highways on the list of 10 longest highways in the world, has a storied history regarding the construction of highways. When the suburbs started becoming popular post-World War II, traffic also increased significantly which led to city planners worrying that their city was becoming “unhealthy.” This, combined with the fact that the federal government offered to cover up to 90 percent of the cost of constructing a highway, saw many such city planners beginning to build highways.
Of course, building a highway is not just a long and arduous task, but extremely expensive as well, and the bigger the highway, the greater the cost of building it. This is why some of the highways on our list are also among the 10 Most Expensive Highways in the World. To confirm the longest highways, we used The Mesh News, Rediff and ABC Newspoint.
10. Interstate 80 (I-80)
Length of highway: 2,899 miles (4,666 kilometers)
One of the many highways on our list located in America, Interstate 80 starts from San Francisco and travels up to New Jersey, covering many cities in between such as Oakland, Sacramento, and Toledo among others.
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9. Interstate 90 (I-90)
Length of highway: 3,205 miles (5,158 kilometers)
We are continuing our list of longest highways in the world with Interstate 90 that is the longest interstate highway in the US, clocking in at over 3,000 miles. It starts from Seattle and ends in Boston, covering a vast number of cities in 13 states!
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8.US Route 6
Length of highway: 3,019 miles (4,860 kilometers)
One of the integral parts of the US Highway system, US Route 6 runs from California to Massachusetts, and was once the longest highway in the country in 1964.
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7. US Route 20
Length of highway: 3,364 miles (5,415 kilometers)
The highway which overtook US Route 6 for the longest highway in the nation, US Route 20 is a coast-to-coast highway that starts from Massachusetts and ends up in Oregon.
6. China National Highway 010
Length of highway: 3,541 miles (5,700 kilometers)
The longest national highway in China is on the list of 10 longest highways in the world, and it starts from Tongjiang up to Hainan, passing 8 provinces on the way.
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5. Golden Quadrilateral Highway Network
Length of highway: 3,632 miles (5,846 kilometers)
The highway is called the quadrilateral network because it connects four main cities in Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, and took 11 years to be built.
4. Trans-Canada Highway
Length of highway: 4,859 miles (7,821 kilometers)
While Canada has a small population, the land the country occupies is vast and this highway, which cost over a billion dollars, helps bridge the gap.
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3. Trans-Siberian Highway
Length of highway: 6,835 miles (11,000 kilometers)
This highway, third on our list of longest highways in the world is mind boggling in its length, covering the entire width of Russia.
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2. Highway 1
Length of highway: 9,009 miles (14,500 kilometers)
Australia is another country that occupies a huge area but has a low population and this bridge, established over half a century ago, has allowed people to travel from one place to another with relative ease.
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1. Pan American Highway
Length of highway: 29,825 miles (48,000 kilometers)
Topping the list of 10 longest highways in the world by several country miles (pun intended), the length of this highway can be judged from the fact that it passes through different climates and areas, from jungles to deserts.
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