The 'world's longest highway' stretches 30,000 kilometers across 14 countries | World

Love them or hate them, highways are some of the most convenient routes to help drivers access a completely different part of the country in the shortest possible time.

While many fast roads in the UK stretch for hundreds of miles, the world’s longest motorway is a whopping 30,000 miles long and takes users through 14 different countries.

The Pan-American Highway is an international highway system in South America that begins in southern Argentina and only ends once traffic reaches Alaska.

Divided into two parts, the southern section of the record-breaking route takes motorists through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia before reaching a 60-mile break toward the north of the country.

Once drivers reach the northern section of the route in Panama, they will then pass through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, America and Canada, before returning to the US state of Alaska.

Plans to create the Pan American Highway were initially proposed to the U.S. Congress in 1884 as a rail line connecting the many countries of the two continents.

While there was much hope for this project, which would have facilitated public transportation, it was ultimately abandoned in favor of the Panama Canal in 1903, before being reconsidered as a highway in 1923.

15 countries signed the agreement to build sections of the highway in 1937, with Mexico completing the first section of the road in 1950 and the last section completed in 1963.

Considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be “the longest motorable road in the world,” drivers who want to cover the entire distance of the Pan-American Highway should give themselves plenty of free time.

Currently, the driver with the record for the shortest time traveled on the entire route is Tim Cahill, who, alongside professional long-distance motorist Garry Sowerby, completed the 30,000 mile journey in just 24 days .

Motorists who wish to cover the entire route at a more reasonable pace are generally advised to allow around six months and also ensure that they have all the necessary travel documents and vaccinations to enter the multitude of country.

While the Pan American Highway is head and shoulders above the UK’s longest motorway, the 231-mile M6, there is a similar alternative that tourists can take in Europe.

The E40 is currently the longest motorway in Europe, covering the 4,971 mile route between Calais, France, and Ridder, Kyrgyzstan, through Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, RussiaKazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the process.

A connected journey on different highways in each country, drivers wanting to travel continuously on the E40 will need almost two months before reaching the end point, near the border with China.