Not a highway or interstate. Someone told me it was Broad Street in Philadelphia but I don’t buy that due to City Hall interrupting Broad Street in the middle. I’ve heard Colfax Ave. in Denver, Figueroa in LA, and even Broadway in NY. None of these I was able to get more than an unofficial “I heard such and such is the longest street in the US”.
I guess this could depend on the definition of “street”. But my guess is to lay claim to the title, the thoroughfare would have to be within the limits of a city.
I’ve always heard that Western Avenue in Chicago is the longest street in the world. I think that means (in this case at least) longest street all in one municipality. 23.5 miles
Sepulveda (say sep-PUHL-veh-duh) Blvd in Los Angeles certainly is in the running at 31.5 miles.
Sylmar to the South Bay in only 12 hours, baby! The only nit-picking I can see would be the renegade incorporated cities along the route, making it technically in Los Angeles, but in some small city.
I’m not sure why you would require this… A street can maintain its identity (at least, such identity as a street can have) even while crossing over munincipal boundaries. Some streets are even themselves the boundary. Would you say that such a street had zero length? I think that I would just require that the street retain the same name.
Colfax Avenue is the main east/west street through the Denver metro area. It is exactly 26 miles long (or a bit more) and was home to the first annual Colfax Marathon in July (5,000 or so runners). At one time it was a record holder. I believe the longest commercial street in the US (world?). There are no private residences along it’s entire length.
If that is the case, then no street presented, so far, compares to Grand River Avenue. Detroit was built with major “spokes” extending out from the central city, with Gratiot Av, Woodward Av, Grand River, Michigan Av, and Fort Street all extending well over 20 miles into the surrounding countryside. Eventually, each of the other streets take on names from larger towns through which they pass, but Grand River keeps its identity all the way out past Lansing and through Ionia County, finally giving up its identity only as it approaches Grand Rapids, the city through which (ironically) the river Grand River passes. The length of this continuous street (excluding its continuation as Cascade into Grand Rapids) exceeds 130 miles.
If that is the case, then no street presented, so far, compares to Grand River Avenue. Detroit was built with major “spokes” extending out from the central city, with Gratiot Av, Woodward Av, Grand River, Michigan Av, and Fort Street all extending well over 20 miles into the surrounding countryside. Eventually, each of the other streets take on names from larger towns through which they pass, but Grand River keeps its identity all the way out past Lansing and through Ionia County, finally giving up its identity only as it approaches Grand Rapids, the city through which (ironically) the river Grand River passes. The length of this continuous street (excluding its continuation as Cascade into Grand Rapids) exceeds 130 miles.
There are definitely very long segments that are a city street throughout and go under the name “El Camino Real”, starting with I-880/Alameda intersection in San Jose all the way to Mission St. in San Francisco. I’d say at least 50 miles.
Figueroa Street in Los Angeles once claimed to be the longest street in the world (30 miles), if you ignore the freeway section that got built in the middle. The defining factor seems to be that the name ends in “Street”, because Sepulveda Boulevard is clearly longer.
Probably Pacific Coast Highway in the US. However there is a names street in Canada, whose name escapes me at the moment, which stretches several hundred miles. Some smart Canadian will along shortly to confirm this.
The classic answer to “longest street in the world under a single name” would be Yonge Street in Ontario, running from Toronto north and west for lotsamiles. That is, obviously, not in the United States, but with people mentioning its existence but not naming it, it seemed the most minor of hijacks to say so.
I’d presume it’s a matter of semantics here – what we are looking for is a thoroughfare that extends “in a straight line” (curves but no angular turns being acceptable) for the greatest distance, bearing the same name at either end. Questions: are interruptions acceptable? If Elm Avenue extends 20 miles under that name, with a one-mile gap in the middle where the Incorporated Village of East Podunk has renamed it Former Mayor Cecil Underdunk Street, does it qualify? If proceeding straight on East Rubberduck Boulevard across a major intersection takes you onto West Rubberduck Boulevard, do the two qualify as “one street with the same name” for purposes of this discussion?
If so, then the clear answer is Main Street, which starts in a small town up in the eastern corner of Maine, gets interrupted for a few thousand miles, and then ends in a town in Hawaii.
I’m sorry, but Grand River Ave goes quite a bit further with fewer interruptions and no name changes.
If we’re going to include Yonge Street, (based simply on an association with Highway 11), then there are a lot of streets in the U.S. (to say nothing of the Columbia Road or the Lincoln Highway or the G.A.R. Highway) that get to be considered.
I’d go back to a definition of “steet within a city” which, despite eliminating Eight Mile Rd, Gratiot, Woodward, and Michigan Avenues, (and even Grand River Avenue), because they cross multiple municipal boundaries, has, at least, the aura of consistency to it.
If you ignore the city limits requirement, and go with “no angular turns,” but limit it to the United States, and perform your measurement on a tuesday evening, under a full moon in July, I think you’re almost certainly going to come up with one of the interstates.
I’d have to second Tomndeb’s nomination of Grand River Avenue. I’ve driven it from downtown Detroit to as far as Lansing just to say that I did it, even though thier were much faster ways to go. It is basically a street from start to finish with stop signs, red lights and changes from two lane to four lanes many times along the way. I don’t beleive that it has a state route number anywhere along it’s route. Can the Paciic Coast Highway say the same thing?