Most of us know the feeling of a long, boring stretch of highway. But picture a road so straight that you could set your steering wheel and leave it there for hours. No bends, no hills, nothing but the road shrinking to a point on the horizon. Such a road really exists.
Here's the short answer. The world record for the longest straight road belongs to Highway 10 in Saudi Arabia. A section between the towns of Haradh and Al Batha runs for about 150 miles, or 240 kilometers, with no bends or noticeable slopes. It took the title from Australia's famous 90 Mile Straight on the Eyre Highway.
A King's Road Across the Empty Quarter
Highway 10 stretches about 920 miles, from Ad Darb in Saudi Arabia to the border with the United Arab Emirates near the Persian Gulf. The road was originally built as a private road for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.
Its straight section cuts through the Rub' al Khali, which means the Empty Quarter. It's an enormous desert covering about 250,000 square miles across parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Much of it is a sea of sand dunes, some as tall as 820 feet, colored reddish-orange by a mineral called feldspar.
It wasn't always so dry. Along the middle of the desert are hardened patches of clay and minerals that were once the beds of shallow lakes. They held water from about 6,000 to 5,000 years ago, and again from about 3,000 to 2,000 years ago. Today, drivers on Highway 10 see mostly sand, gravel, and sky.
Australia's 90 Mile Straight
Before Saudi Arabia claimed the record, Australia's Eyre Highway was the famous one. It's the only paved road linking Western Australia and South Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain. The name Nullarbor comes from Latin for no tree, and the view is mostly flat land covered in low saltbush.
Between the roadhouses of Balladonia and Caiguna, the highway runs about 91 miles without turning. It's signposted as the 90 Mile Straight and is still regarded as the longest straight stretch of road in Australia.
Paving the Eyre Highway was a long job. Work began at the Norseman end in 1960, and Western Australia's portion was finished in 1969, celebrated with a ceremony at Eucla. South Australia's part took about a decade more.
Even Straighter on Rails
If you think 150 miles is long, the train tracks in the same part of Australia go even further. The Trans-Australian Railway, which opened in 1917, crosses the Nullarbor Plain and includes the world's longest section of completely straight track.
That stretch, known as the Long Straight, runs for about 297 miles without a curve. Australian astronaut Andy Thomas said the line is visible from space because it's so unnaturally straight, like someone drew a fine pencil line across the land.
Life on the Long Road
Out on the Nullarbor, the roadhouses are lifelines. Apart from the town of Eucla, they're the only settlements along about 450 miles of the Eyre Highway in Western Australia, spaced 40 to 110 miles apart.
So whether it's a desert highway in Saudi Arabia or an outback road in Australia, these straight stretches are a different kind of adventure. Just remember to fill the tank, pack some snacks, and maybe bring a good audiobook. The scenery won't change for a while.
