The Longest Streets in the World

Pan-American Highway (France: Route panaméricaine, Spain: Carretera Panamericana, Autopista Panamericana) length is about 47,958 kilometers (29,800 miles). Except for 87 km (54 miles) of rain forest called the Darien Gap, this road connects the mainland countries of the Americas in a connected system of highways. According to Guinness World Records, the Pan-American Highway is the longest street. However, because the Darien Gap, it is not possible to cross between South America and Central America by traditional motor vehicles.

Pan-American Map

Pan-American “Highway System” extends from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in North America to South America downstream. Several highway termini are claimed, including the cities and Quellón Puerto Montt in Chile and Ushuaia in Argentina. No comprehensive route is officially defined in Canada and the United States, although there are some highway called the “Pan-American”.

Pan-American Highway through many diverse climates and ecological types, from dense jungles to mountain. Since the highway passes through many countries, then the shape is far from uniform. Some stretches of which are passable only during the dry season, and in many regions driving is sometimes dangerous.

Well-known part of the Pan-American Highway includes the Alaska Highway and the Inter-American Highway (the part between the United States and the Panama Canal). Both parts are built during World War II as a means to supply remote areas without danger of attack by U-boats.

Pan-American Highway

Jake Silverstein, writing in 2006, Pan American Way describes as “a system so vast, so incomplete, and therefore to be understood not so much a road as Pan-Americanism Pan American Road itself is the longest street in the world.