Hwy. 401 & I10: Two of the longest roads in North America

Ontario and Texas are just 1,600 kilometres apart, not far at all by modern standards, especially considering today’s fancy roadways.

Ontario and Texas don’t have that much in common: Texas became part of its union in 1845, but Ontario didn’t join Canada till 1867. Ontario is about 400,000 square kilometres bigger than Texas and is 15 per cent water vs. dry Texas’s 4 per cent.

So what’s the point? What’s the exercise here? It’s just that they do have one thing in common: Their main highways. Until Interstate 10 came along, you see, Highway 401 in Ontario held the crown for longest highway in North America administered by one bureaucracy.

These are two of the busiest—and some would say most dangerous—roads on the continent, running through two of the biggest, busiest cities, Toronto and Houston. One runs 817 kilometres, the other 881 miles—Mile 880 in Texas is the highest numbered exit in America.