Carretera Panamericana

( Pan-American Highway )

Description

The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. It is recognized as the longest road in the world. The highway connects 14 countries, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

No road in the U.S. or Canada is officially designated as part of the Pan-American Highway, which officially begins at the U.S.-Mexico border in Nuevo Laredo and runs south.

The highway is interrupted at the Darién Gap, a dense rainforest area between Panama and Colombia. No road traverses the Gap, and no car ferries have operated in the area for decades; drivers often opt to send their car by cargo ship from one country to the other.