How long does it take to cross your state or country?

[purplepoppy]

As a rough guide it takes 8-9hours to drive from the south coast of England to the Scottish border. It takes about 4 hours to drive from the south of Wales to the north and 2 hours to cross it east to west in the middle, a bit longer at the wider parts.
Scotland is roughly 6-7 hours top to bottom.

So forgetting distances, approximately how long would it take you to drive across your country or your state (assuming you stick to speed limits) and have you ever done it

Updates

1 y

I'm surprised by how quickly people are saying you can cross America. I would have guessed a few weeks

[MrOracle]

I'm in California.

If I started in San Francisco, it would take around 4.5 hours (with no traffic) to reach Reno, Nevada (about 220 miles), and this is the narrowest portion of the state with an Interstate freeway (I-80) connecting major cities.

It would take 13 hours - assuming no traffic and averaging 70 MPH, with stops only for fuel - to drive from San Diego in the south (just north of Mexico) to the Oregon border on the north (roughly 820 miles), using Interstate 5, which is the fastest and most direct route.

For comparison, the state of California has roughly 65% more land mass than the entire UK.

California: 163,696 mi²

UK: 94,058 mi²

England: 50,301 mi²

Wales: 8,023 mi²

SF Bay Area: 6,900 mi²

The 9 counties that make up the San Francisco Bay Area

In order to not be slowed down by traffic, you'd need to pass through major metro areas between 10am-2pm, or between 7pm and 6am. Even with no traffic, it will take roughly 90 minutes to get through the Los Angeles area, so if you hit that area at 1pm, you won't have left the danger zone by 2pm, and you're going to be sitting in traffic for at least a portion of your transit of the area.

[MrOracle]

Re: your update: I've driven from the Bay Area to the East Coast in 4 days, but they were 12-14-hour days of driving, stopping only long enough to refuel and hit a DriveThru (we also had a cooler and made sandwiches). It's about 3000-3100 road miles to cross the country from east to west, so you need to do about 800 miles a day to get there in 4 days. That's pretty hard-core driving - most women aren't up for that, and neither are their bladders.

If you're only going to drive 8 hours a day, and you're going to stop every couple of hours for the bathroom and you're going to sit down in some restaurant to eat (which really means you're only driving about 6 hours a day), then you're going to need 8+ days to make the same trip.

[WindAtMyBack]

East-west in the US is at least four days of very hard driving. A week is a more comfortable pace, but still hard driving. If you actually want to take some breaks and see some things along the way, it can take two+ weeks.

I've driven across the most of the US dozens of times. The same thing happens every time. After driving for several hours it seems like I've been driving forever but I know I've barely started. It really gives you a good feel for just how big the country is, and in turn how big the world is.

I have not driven the entire length of the US in one trip, but I've driven 80-90% of it a bunch of times. My record is three days and it's hell driving that hard. I've done it in 3.5 days several times. Usually it's more like 5 days or longer.

North-south can be done in 1-2 days.

[WindAtMyBack]

"I'm surprised by how quickly people are saying you can cross America. I would have guessed a few weeks "

The Interstate system is pretty fast. If you average 65 MPH with stops, and drive 15 hours a day, you will cover 2925 miles in three days (4700 KM). That's most of the way across the US. 65 MPH is a pretty fast average. To do it you either have to be driving way over the speed limit, or be making almost no stops except to get gas.

A few weeks is a relaxed pace. That gives you time to stop and see/do a lot along the way. I've done road trips of 6-7 weeks, and that's long enough to make a round trip with lots of sight seeing.

By train, it takes 67 hours from Washington DC to LA. That includes 5-8 hours of layovers and several stops at cities along the way.

[Lost_in_the_Woods]

Texas is much bigger in person.

Virginia to Massachusetts took me like 8 hours today and that was with a 30 minute traffic jam.

VA to Florida takes like 11 hours but it helps that people in the south know how to drive.

But one day I woke up in Laredo and drove a full 11 hours on my 68mph speed limiter... and I was still in Texas. Just short of Texarkana.

[Lost_in_the_Woods]

CDL drivers are limited to 11 hours a day. 600 miles is pretty good with a 66mph limiter. 700 is a lot. 800+ is only possible if you can speed or you are in the middle of the county with a fast truck.

[Lost_in_the_Woods]

But shit, you can drive for 3 hours in NYC and still see the place you started.

[WindAtMyBack]

@Lost_in_the_Woods
Yea, Texas is pretty big. I've driven through most of Texas but have never driven across the entire state in one go.

I think the longest trip was from Texarkana, down to Austen, then west through the hill country to Big Bend, then on to N Mexico. I made a lot of stops along the way though, so I don't know how long the actual driving time was.

[WindAtMyBack]

@Lost_in_the_Woods
I avoid driving in NYC like the plague. Same goes for any big city for that matter. That's even more true when I'm hypnotized from many hours on the road and suddenly I have to deal with all that traffic.

I want to get through cities as fast as I can, but they often have speed traps.

[Anonymous]

From NSW to Queensland first trip took around 10 hours

2nd trip took around 11 to 12 hours due to car sickness from the little boy. He had never experienced car sickness before but this one trip he did.

From NSW to Western Australia or from NSW to Northern Territory, it would probably take about 2 to 3 days.

From NSW to Canberra about 4 hours depending on where in NSW you live.

[melanieeeB]

Ehm the state... the shortes I know is like 20-25 min

The county, well vertically I guess like 11 hours?
I know it takes around 8 hours up to Hamburg (additional 1-2 hours until the border i guess) and 2 hours down to Switzerland from where I live
And horizontal maybe 5 hours? It takes 1 h to France and 4 h to Austria

[Lliam]

From the southern to the northern border of California it's about 15 or 16 hours.
From the coast to the eastern border of California, it's maybe 4 hours.
All this depends on your chosen route and traffic conditions.
In reality, it has taken me 10 hours to drive from the state Capital, Sacramento, in central California, to Los Angeles before when traffic was bad. But it's usually about 7 or 8 hours.

[bean2k21]

Dare County, NC is the eastern-most part of the state and was named for the first British dog that was born in the U. S. From there to Cherokee country in the Appalachian mountains is 550 miles and would take me about 2 weeks on horseback, although I would probably be killed when I got there.

[Vegasrunner]

Probably About 8 hours to cross the state from South to North. The Americans that you're referring to are East Coasters who live in much smaller states. It takes close to 15 Hours to drive through all of California and Proably another 6 each to drive south to North through Oregon and Washington.

[TroyDT]

All by car:

I've driven solo from New London, Connecticut on the Atlantic to my house in Newport Beach on the Pacific in under three days.

From here to the Arizona border is about 3.5 hours.

From here to the Mexican border is under two hours without traffic.

From here to the Oregon border is about 14 hours.

From here to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada takes around 22 hours if I follow the speed limit.

[SaoirseS]

I live on the Easternmost side of the state (Kansas), and it takes me six hours to drive to the far western side and into Colorado. Oklahoma is about four hours to the South. Two hours to the north is the corner of Iowa and Nebraska.

[xJeremyx]

By driving, you could probably cross Singapore (not including its' surrounding islands) from East to West within two hours. By public transport, within 3 hours.

Its shorter from North to South.

Yes, Singapore is just that small.

[godfatherfan]

If you start at the bottom of Michigan, drive straight up I75 to the Mackinac Bridge, then across the UP to Wisconsin, it would take you 9-11 hours. It is about a 6-7 hr drive through the lower peninsula, and 3 or 4 hrs across the UP. But that is mostly due to crappy roads up there.

[AviatorTom]

Across the widest part of my US state takes about 4 hours, across the entire country (say, Boston to Los Angeles) would take about 3 days, assuming minimal rest stops.

[jennifer_bloom]

There is a border crossing less than 2 hours away by car but sometimes they block you from passing

[Texaskid1]

You can cross the US from New York to California in maybe 4 days or less but only if you are go on very little sleep and lots of coffee. I would not recommend it though.

I have driven from El Paso, TX to Houston and that was about 15 hours - but I was in a truck so those are slower.

[Redstang88]

For the province you’re looking at about 10 hours east-west not counting the island, south-north is well over 20. Crossing the country is like 70-80 hours if you truly go coast to coast. And going all the way north is impossible, roads only go about halfway

[Jamesshinobi]

i was born in Hartford connecticut USA. it takes 2 hours tops to cross that state. my parents divorced and i was raised 1 block outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. it take 12 hours to drive across Pennsylvannia and 4 hours to drive to my brothers that still live in Connecticut. i moved to Houston Texas, USA. it takes 18 hours to cross the state and 24 hours to drive to my home in Philadelpia Pennsylvania and 2 days and 4 hours to drive to my brothers.

[KostasKouvalis]

Theoretically, assuming you didn't stop for food or sleep, and didn't experience any traffic delays, you could make it from Los Angeles to New York in just under 48 hours.

However, considering you'd most likely need to stop for food, gas, restroom and sleep and also taking into account traffic delays, 3 days minimum is a more realistic number.

[KostasKouvalis]

Update: did you read my rationale? We have an extensive highway network, hun and most of our country is flat

[Anonymous]

From where I went to film school in Nacogdoches, Tx (central E Texas) to El Paso (westernmost point in Tx) it's 12 hrs. Ironically enough it's only another 12 to get to the ocean in LA, California, 3 states away.

[CaptainOverthink]

Sweden by car, non-stop driving.
North - south:
~11 hours.
East - West:
~4 hours.

[Pudsmucker]

From New York City to Los Angeles takes 40 hours of driving time by automobile. 6 hours of flying Non-Stop. From Mexico to the Canadian border is approximately 40 hours of driving time.

[Zolly99999]

Where I live in Canada it take 4 hours from my house to the border of Quebec and 24 hours to the border of Manitoba. To drive from ocean to ocean in Canada would take about a week.

[andreasderjuengere]

I run my own country.

To cross it, it takes half a minute if I walk.

[goaded]

7 hours east-west (729km) which is an average of over 100km/h (62mph) 10 hours north-south (1,032km), ditto.

I expect that's reasonable car speeds, there will be sections without any speed limit.

[Havthrills]

State, about 2 hours. The state that I grew up in, it took 14 hours to drive across.

[Havthrills]

Driving straight through USA while switching drivers, took us about 40 hours. But that's about 4 hours from the coasts. Driving alone, having to stop for sleep, will take 3 or 4 days depending on the driver.