MCDERMOTT STREET – CHICAGO, IL

Chicago’s shortest street is McDermott Street, a tiny stub off Archer Avenue in the Bridgeport neighborhood. The street is officially listed at 1400 west, from 2928 to 2936 south. That’s eight address points.

View from Archer Avenue

HANCOCK, MARYLAND

Hancock is a town in Washington County, Maryland that is notable for being located at the narrowest part of the state. The north-south distance from the Pennsylvania state line to the West Virginia state line is only 1.8 miles. The 1.8-mile distance from the Maryland/Pennsylvania state line to the Maryland/West Virginia state line is the smallest non-vertex* border-to-border distance of any U.S. state. *A vertex is a point where two or more lines, curves or edges meet.

Google Earth Screenshot Showing Distance from Maryland/Pennsylvania State Line to Maryland/West Virginia State Line

JUANCHO E YRAUSQUIN AIRPORT ON DUTCH CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF SABA

Juancho E Yrausquin Airport has the shortest runway in the world available for commercial use. The runway is 1.312 feet long and has three cliff edges over the sea, with the fourth side enclosed by high hills. The only planes allowed at the airport are regional propeller aircraft flights provided by Winair from nearby islands.

PRINCETON BRANCH (AKA “THE DINKY”)

The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit. The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line, running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. The branch is served by special shuttle trains. Now running 2.7 miles along a single track, it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the U.S. The run takes approximately 5 minutes in each direction.

INDIANA HIGHWAY LENGTHS

CATEGORY	HIGHWAY	MILES	LOCATION
Longest Interstate	I-65	261.25	Enters the state northbound at Jeffersonville (across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky) to its northern terminus in Gary, 1/8th of a mile north of the Indiana Toll Road.
Longest Active US Route	US 41*	277.01	Enters the state south of Evansville and runs north to Hammond where it exits into the south side of Chicago
Longest Active State Road	SR 3	212.65	A discontinuous highway running through eastern Indiana from near the Ohio River to near the Michigan state line. (Charlestown to Brighton)
Longest “Old State Road”	OSR 63	9.86	No other information available
Longest “Old US Route	OUS 50	6..74	No other information available
Shortest Interstate within the State	I-275**	3.29	I-275 aka the Cincinnati Bypass forms a complete beltway around Cincinnati. Enters Indiana from Kentucky over Ohio River and extends to Ohio state line.
Shortest US Route	US 131	0.064	Elkhart County between the entrance to the Indiana Toll Road, a few hundred feet north of the Toll Road overpass, and the Michigan state line.
Shortest State Road	SR 520	0.26	A four-lane connector, it exists solely to connect US Route 12 and U.S. Route 20 in Pines, about 3 miles west of Michigan City.
Shortest “Old State Road”	OSR 160	0.08	No other information available
Shortest “Old US Route”	OUS 52	0.17	No other information available

Source: Indiana Department of Transportation

*Fun Fact 1: US 41 in Indiana was featured in the famous crop duster scene in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest, although the scene was actually filmed in Bakersfield, California. **Fun Fact 2: Prior to 2018 I-275 was the only auxiliary interstate that entered 3 states. However, I-275 lost that designation in 2018 when I-295 in Delaware and New Jersey was extended into Pennsylvania. **Fun Fact 3: I-275 is the longest beltway with an Interstate highway designation. It is the third longest beltway behind the Sam Houston Tollway and the Grand Parkway encircling Metro Houston.

THE ENTIRETY OF SR 520 LOOKING SOUTHBOUND FROM ITS INTERSECTION WITH US ROUTE 12

VERMONT STATE ROUTE 26

Vermont Route 26 connects Vermont Route 102 and the New Hampshire state line. It is only 69 feet long, but is signed and recognized by VTrans as a state route.  It is by far the shortest state route in Vermont. The next shortest, Vermont Route 119 is about 6 times longer at 420 feet.

The entire length of Vermont Route 26 as viewed from the western end. The eastern terminus of the route is a town line marker 1/3 of the way across the bridge.

SHORTEST REGULARLY SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL FLIGHT IN THE WORLD

The Loganair Westray (island) to Papa Westray (island) route in Orkney, Scotland is the shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world. Flights on this route are scheduled for one and a half minutes, and actual flying time is closer to one minute. The record for the fastest flight is 53 seconds. The route is flown by Loganair, a Scottish regional airline that serves Scotland's Highlands and islands. Flights between Westray Airport and Papa Westray Airport occur daily in both directions, except on Saturdays, when only flights from Westray to Papa Westray are available, and on Sunday, when only flights from Papa Westray to Westray are available. The total distance covered by the flights is 1.7 miles, which is about the same length as the runway at Edinburgh airport. Many students and their teachers take these flights to study the 60 archaeological sites on Papa Westray, making up the majority of passengers. Occasionally health professionals are needed to assist one of the island's 90 residents, and patients will also take the flight from Papa Westray to medical facilities when needed. The flight has also become popular among tourists.

"STAY" SHORTEST SINGLE TO REACH BILLBOARD TOP 100

“Stay” * is a doo-wop song written by Maurice Williams and first recorded in 1960 by Williams with his group the Zodiacs. The song originally had the line, “Let’s have another smoke” that the record producer said would have to be removed in order for the song to be played on commercial radio. “Stay” entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on October 9, 1960 and reached the number one spot on November 21, 1960. At 1 minute 36 seconds, the original recording of “Stay” remains the shortest single ever to reach the top of the American record charts. *Your humble blogger purchased this 45 rpm record in 1960

SHORTEST STREET IN THE WORLD

At 6 feet, 9 inches in length, Ebenezer Place in Wick, Caithness, Scotland is the shortest street in the world. The street has only one address, the entrance to No. 1 Bistro, which is part of Mackays Hotel. The hotel has other frontages onto Union Street and River Street, with its main entrance on Union Street.

No. 1 Bistro, Ebenezer Place in Wick

SHORTEST WAR IN HISTORY

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted around 40 minutes, and is the shortest war in history. The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash.

INTERSTATE 97

I-97 lies entirely within Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and is the only primary Interstate Highway outside of Hawaii that does not cross a county line. At 17.62 miles it is also the shortest Interstate Highway.

SHORTEST CITY NAME IN EVERY STATE

STATE	CITY	POP.		STATE	CITY	POP.
Alabama	Opp	6,665		Montana	Troy	710
Alaska	Eek	455		Nebraska	Ord	2,257
Arizona	Mesa	458,860		Nevada	Ely (3)	4,206
Arkansas	Bay	1,973		New Hampshire	Dover	30,534
California	Napa	79,193		New Jersey	Lodi (6)	24,590
Colorado	Rye	209		New Mexico	Jal	2,161
Connecticut	Derby (1)	12,796		New York	Rye	15,944
Delaware	Dover (2)	37,144		North Carolina	Cary	151,186
Florida	Lee	561		North Dakota	Ray	527
Georgia	Ila	428		Ohio	Ada	6,050
Hawaii	Puhi	3,435		Oklahoma	Ada	17,149
Idaho	Kuna	16,557		Oregon	Bend	87,180
Illinois	Ina	2,342		Pennsylvania	Yoe	1,067
Indiana	Amo	508		Rhode Island	Warwick (7)	81,855
Iowa	Ely (3)	1,994		South Carolina	Iva	1,085
Kansas	Gas (4)	606		South Dakota	Tea	4,427
Kentucky	Clay	1,283		Tennessee	Dyer	2,330
Louisiana	Sun	323		Texas	Van	2,654
Maine	Saco	18,874		Utah	Roy	37,670
Maryland	Luke	97		Vermont	Ludlow	944
Massachusetts	Lynn	91,626		Virginia	Wise	3,185
Michigan	Troy (5)	82,542		Washington	Roy	634
Minnesota	Ely (3)	3,445		West Virginia	Man	991
Mississippi	Luka	3,005		Wisconsin	Rio	1,102
Missouri	Ava	2,961		Wyoming	Cody (8)	9,741

1	Derby	Also, Connecticut’s smallest city (see Blog post dated 12/2/18)
2	Dover	Capital of Delaware
3	Ely	Most common shortest name for a city (Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada)
4	Gas	Named after abundance of natural gas found in the area
5	Troy	Named after the city of same name in New York
6	Lodi	Named after an Italian city. Home to the Soprano’s TV show
7	Warwick	Shortest city name in Rhode Island is an astounding 7 letters long!
8	Cody	Named after “Buffalo” Bill Cody

Special mention to Warwick, Rhode Island. The smallest state in the U.S. is home to the longest shortest name of any city in the U.S.!