10 Of The Longest Highways In The World – Jalopnik

We can use trains to cross continents, boats to sail the seas, and airplanes to fly the world over, however there’s nothing like getting behind the wheel of a automotive and hitting the freeway for a great old school street journey. Across the world, there are infinite miles and miles of street simply begging to be traversed on 4 wheels (plus loads of deserted roads that inform their very own story). If your vacation spot is on the identical continent as your departure level, there is a good likelihood you may get the place you need to go along with nothing greater than a automotive and quite a lot of fuel cash. And snacks. Don’t overlook snacks.

Highway networks are just like the veins of a continent, and automobiles are the blood pumping via its system. Within these freeway networks, particular person roads stretch tens of 1000’s of miles throughout a number of nations. It can generally really feel isolating to reside within the fashionable world, however if you wish to journey someplace 1000’s of miles away, all you must do is hit the freeway, although the roads on this listing will probably exceed the longest street journey you are prepared to take. 

If you end up on a street journey in India, likelihood is you are going to spend a while on the Golden Quadrilateral. This street is actually a four-sided loop inside India, connecting 4 main cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, spanning almost 3,633 miles. The Golden Quadrilateral is a comparatively current addition to the worldwide group of highways, having been largely accomplished by 2004 and completed in 2012. 

Long stretches of the freeway have 4 or six lanes, dramatically bettering long-distance connectivity throughout the nation, though site visitors circumstances can differ alongside the way in which. In specific, the stretch between Mumbai and Gujarat has been described as ‘in a state of disrepair’ as just lately as 2024, with gaping potholes inflicting deadly accidents and congestion that preserve the street from reaching its full potential. If you are going to drive it, be sure that to verify the street circumstances beforehand, lest you get caught sitting in site visitors jams for hours on finish.

The Golden Quadrilateral venture has been tainted by an alleged historical past of corruption inside the National Highways Authority of India group. Concerning the Golden Quadrilateral, a person named Satyendra Dubey made inquiries into potential corruption, which made him a goal of the “Mafia Raj,” which turned public works initiatives just like the Golden Quadrilateral into methods to line their very own pockets with misappropriated authorities funds. In 2003, the 31-year-old Dubey was murdered. While no one throughout the Indian mob was ever formally indicted for the crime, Dubey grew to become a posthumous folks hero, and his story has been immortalized in documentaries and the music of Rabbi Shergill, a noteworthy Indian rock star.

As its identify suggests, the Trans-Canada Highway spans your entire nation. If you need to take one street from the west coast to the east coast, this freeway will get you there, taking you thru a few of Canada’s most well-known surroundings alongside the way in which. It wasn’t absolutely accomplished till 1971, however even when it first opened in 1962, the Trans-Canada Highway was the longest steady nationwide freeway on this planet. Today, the street stretches for about 4,860 miles, and even encompasses ferry rides that may carry your automotive throughout the water into locations corresponding to Newfoundland and Vancouver Island — simply watch out for some Canadian site visitors guidelines which will appear overseas to Americans.

While driving alongside the Highway, yow will discover many roadside landmarks and vacationer points of interest that function a distraction throughout lengthy, cross-country drives. They embody the world’s largest Canada Goose, which resides subsequent to Wawa’s Tourist Information Center, in addition to the Saamis Teepee in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The teepee, initially constructed for the 1988 Calgary Olympics, is over 200 ft tall and is illuminated at evening, making it a glowing beacon for freeway vacationers. 

The International E-road community encompasses a big sequence of freeway networks throughout Europe, Central Asia, and Asia Minor. Created by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the primary settlement defining these worldwide routes was signed in 1950, with its fashionable numbering system launched in 1975. The community was developed to standardize worldwide street journey and help postwar financial cooperation, linking nations via a extra coordinated freeway system.

European Route E60 goes all the way in which from Brest, France, within the west to Irkeshtam, Kyrgyzstan, on the border with China within the east. That’s a complete of about 5,100 miles of street to drive throughout. It’s the second-longest street within the E-road community, and it will take you thru Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Romania, amongst others. 

The Cairo-Dakar Highway runs for five,366 miles and gives one heck of a view, because it runs alongside the northern and western coasts of Africa. A full, end-to-end drive provides you with grand views of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. You may even get to see whales or dolphins off the coast of Morocco or Egypt. It makes for a difficult drive for an adventure-seeker, punctuated by the arid desert warmth and political roadblocks. Some components of the freeway are unpaved, whereas others are in danger resulting from political violence in areas like Mali and Burkina Faso, so purchaser beware: you will have to search out some alternate routes.

Once upon a time, the street related the nations of Algeria and Morocco, however relations have change into lower than cordial in recent times, with the border closed since 1994. While the 2 nations are usually not at outright struggle with each other right this moment, they don’t seem to be on talking phrases, both. If you need to drive the African coast through the Cairo-Dakar Highway, you may have to discover a detour across the Algeria-Morocco border.

European Route E40 spans 5,369 miles from France into Germany, then Poland and Ukraine, after which Russia, earlier than ending within the east of Kazakhstan. It’s an incredible street for touring via Europe, taking you thru tourist-friendly cities like Brussels, Bruges, Dresden, and Krakow. In higher days, the street would additionally give vacationers entry to a few of Ukraine’s extra bustling cities, together with Kyiv and Lviv, and the gorgeous sunflower fields that outline Ukraine’s sweeping countryside.

Unfortunately, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted Route E40. Parts of the freeway run via the Donbas area of Ukraine, which Russia has occupied since 2014. While a lot of the street is absolutely drivable in Western Europe, issues get a bit dicey when you cross into Ukraine, the place Russian violence prevents full entry to Europe’s longest street.

Also generally known as one among China’s “Sky Roads,” National Highway 219 is a single route working from Kom-Kanas within the northwest tip of China all the way in which to Dongxing within the south. All informed, some estimates say it spans 6,214 miles of street, although its development is ongoing. Originally constructed largely for army logistics, G219 additionally serves civilian transport and tourism, although its safety position stays important.

The street was constructed between 1951 and 1957, nevertheless it wasn’t absolutely paved till 2013. National Highway 219 was controversial from the bounce, with its development being one of many components that led to 1962’s Sino-Indian War, for the reason that street was being constructed alongside the border of China and India, or relatively, land that was claimed by each China and India, regardless of the inhospitable mountain vary that comprised the disputed territory. Nevertheless, land is land, and neither nation would hand over its declare to the territory with no combat. To at the present time, China maintains management over Aksai Chin, whereas India continues to say its declare, leaving the area diplomatically unresolved regardless of China’s de facto administration.

In 1913, Captain Kelsey led an expedition to be the primary man to drive from Cairo to Cape Town. His journey led to tragedy when Kelsey died after a leopard assault in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It would take one other decade for somebody to finish the journey. The honor would finally go to the expedition of Major Chaplin Court Treatt and his spouse, Stella Court Treatt. These days, it’s kind of simpler to drive from Cairo to Cape Town, due to the Cairo-Cape Town Highway.

The Cairo-Cape Town Highway, often known as Trans-African Highway 4, is strictly what it appears like. It’s a street supposed to attach Cairo in northern Africa with Cape Town on the continent’s southern tip. Rather than a single steady motorway, it consists of a community of nationwide roads throughout a number of African nations. While important parts have been accomplished, the route stays unfinished in locations, with some stretches nonetheless unpaved or poorly maintained resulting from financial challenges, infrastructure limitations, and ongoing political instability in components of the area.

The Trans-Siberian Highway is an unofficial designation for a community of federal roads working east from Moscow to Vladivostok, successfully connecting Russia’s Baltic-adjacent west with its Pacific coast. This community of roads serves as a substitute for the Trans-Siberian Railway, which has served the nation since 1916. By distinction, the freeway was solely absolutely paved in 2010. For the document, the freeway spans 6,800 miles, whereas the Railway, the longest such railway on this planet, spans 5,772 miles.

However, when given the selection between driving or taking the prepare, the railroad may be the safer possibility. In December 2025, the freeway was crippled by a significant site visitors jam that spanned for 50 miles, leaving Russian drivers caught within the bitter Siberian chilly all evening. Speaking of the bitter chilly, it might make driving circumstances unpredictable, which is another excuse to simply take the prepare as an alternative.

While Australia may not be recognized for its automotive business, it does have one of many longest highways on this planet, courtesy of Highway 1, which mainly encircles your entire continent. The street spans over 9,000 miles, a few of it encompassing the scenic coast of Australia. Due to its circuitous design, Highway 1 is usually referred to as The Big Lap, which has led to teams informally racing across the freeway. In 2017, a bunch referred to as “Highway 1 to Hell” in tribute to the AC/DC tune, “Highway to Hell,” set a document by navigating your entire freeway — and circling all of Australia — in 5 days, 13 hours, and 43 minutes.

Highway 1 has existed since 1955, and a few Australians lament its iconic designation, “National Route 1,” being diluted by different names in several components of the nation. It’s nonetheless the identical steady community of roads, however resulting from adjustments in the way in which roads are labeled, components of Highway 1 have completely different monikers. The ‘alpha-numeric’ numbering system may be extra handy in relation to figuring out the geography of Highway 1, however one can argue that among the appeal of this singular slab of nigh-endless asphalt uniting all of Australia is misplaced when it is break up up into completely different sections.

If you need to embark on a comfy drive from the north of Alaska to the south of Argentina, properly, you may’t. But you may come fairly shut by driving the Pan-American Highway, the longest freeway on this planet, which runs for about 19,000 miles. However, there’s a caveat, which we hinted at earlier than. For probably the most half, sure, you may drive from Alaska to Argentina. But not completely. You’ll must cope with the Darién Gap. This stretch of inhospitable land is the one land bridge between Panama and Colombia, and the Pan-American Highway doesn’t prolong into this jungle, which might solely be crossed on foot. 

While the Pan-American Highway is the longest street on this planet, it stays unattainable to drive from Alaska to Argentina in a single steady journey. Those who need to journey from Alaska to Argentina should constitution a ship or a aircraft to get across the Darién Gap.