Nearest non-bordering state?

[The Nature Boy]

Using Google Maps, I was able to measure the distance from NH to the NY state line at 37.44 miles. NY to OH is about 43 miles. NH is SLIGHTLY closer.

NC to Alabama is about 72 miles.

(These are all straight line measurements, driving distance may vary)

[vdeane]

Driving, NY/NH is shorter at 45-46 miles along VT 9 vs NY/OH at 46-47 miles along PA 5.

[hotdogPi]

MA-ME, ~20 miles

[Buck87]

MA-ME, ~20 miles

I was just looking at that, according to google it's about 16.2 miles via I-95 and about 14 miles crow.

Are there any shorter ones than that?

[froggie]

NC to Alabama is about 72 miles.

(These are all straight line measurements, driving distance may vary)

Near 100 miles driving.

Driving, NY/NH is shorter at 45-46 miles along VT 9 vs NY/OH at 46-47 miles along PA 5.

Though NY/OH would certainly be faster via I-90.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky's closest would be North Carolina, although I haven't attempted to do a straight-line measurement nor a measurement by highway. US 23 and US 421 through Virginia and Tennessee are direct routes, but I've taken the US 23-Alt. US 58-US 58-VA 91-TN 91-US 421 route several times and I think it may be the closest highway routing.

How about the farthest bordering state? Not counting the Dorena-Hickman Ferry, there is no direct connection between Kentucky and Missouri. You have to use the short portion of US 60 and US 62 in Illinois to get from Bluegrass to Show-Me.

[hotdogPi]

Depending on how how one considers the Four Corners, the pairs of Arizona and Colorado and Utah and New Mexico may count as being zero miles.

Read the first post.

[GaryV]

Michigan technically touches both MN and IL (at the bottom of Lakes Superior and Michigan, respectively).  So the shortest road distance to a non-bordering state is a bit over 200 miles, from SW MI near New Buffalo to somewhere near Clinton IA.  You might be able to get it to just under 200 by taking the most direct back roads.

Edit:  Correction, you can get from far SE MI to western PA in about 190 miles.

Covington, KY would be a close 3rd, I would think.

I-75 is 210 miles long in OH, so yes, a close 3rd.

[doorknob60]

From Oregon, the best I could find by road is Montana, 217 miles via WA-129 and US-12 https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.9984768,-117.2787928/46.6341981,-114.5816493/@45.7127369,-117.1256708,8z Utah would be the only other possibility, but I couldn't find anything shorter.

[hotdogPi]

Can someone calculate the distance by road from Hawaii?

[robbones]

For Arkansas, Kansas is roughly 40 miles as the crow flies, and Kentucky is roughly 70 miles as the crow flies.

[jp the roadgeek]

CT and NJ has to be the winner.  Using Google Maps's measuring tool, it is 11.69 mi. as the crow flies from the NW corner of the panhandle of CT (along NY 120) to the NE corner of NY/NJ just east of the Palisades Parkway along the west shore of the Hudson (11.26 mi if you use the point in the Hudson.)  And now come to find out PA and MA are only 79 miles apart as the crow flies from the I-84 tri-point to Sheffield, NJ and MA about 74 miles from the 87/287 junction to Sheffield, and PA and VT are about 118 mi. from between Deposit and Hancock to the SW corner of Pownal.

[cl94]

CT and NJ has to be the winner.  Using Google Maps's measuring tool, it is 11.69 mi. as the crow flies from the NW corner of the panhandle of CT (along NY 120) to the NE corner of NY/NJ just east of the Palisades Parkway along the west shore of the Hudson.  And now come to find out PA and MA are only 79 miles apart as the crow flies from Matamoras to Sheffield.

20.1 miles from NY 303 at NJ line to NY-CT line on Anderson Hill Rd just west of NY 120A. Lowest I can get.

[Zzonkmiles]

For South Carolina, I was originally inclined to say Virginia, but I suspect that Tennessee is actually closer (both via a straight line and via I-26).

[oscar]

Can someone calculate the distance by road from Hawaii?

Only if you count barges carrying unaccompanied vehicles as "roads".  Or maybe a big yacht where some rich snot can take a car with him between the mainland and Hawaii.

Alaska at least has a public auto ferry system allowing travelers and their cars to pass non-stop through British Columbia, so you can use the distance the ferry travels between Ketchikan AK and Bellingham WA.  That is almost certainly shorter than the overland road distance, since the shortest road connection between Alaska and Washington state (probably 875 miles between Hyder AK and Sumas WA) requires a long inland detour through Prince George BC. 

[jp the roadgeek]

Can someone calculate the distance by road from Hawaii?

Only if you count barges carrying unaccompanied vehicles as "roads".  Or maybe a big yacht where some rich snot can take a car with him between the mainland and Hawaii.

Alaska at least has a public auto ferry system allowing travelers and their cars to pass non-stop through British Columbia, so you can use the distance the ferry travels between Ketchikan AK and Bellingham WA.  That is almost certainly shorter than the overland road distance, since the shortest road connection between Alaska and Washington state (probably 875 miles between Hyder AK and Sumas WA) requires a long inland detour through Prince George BC.

If you extended I-8 about 2505 miles WSW, it would come out on the Big Island

[empirestate]

CT and NJ has to be the winner.  Using Google Maps's measuring tool, it is 11.69 mi. as the crow flies from the NW corner of the panhandle of CT (along NY 120) to the NE corner of NY/NJ just east of the Palisades Parkway along the west shore of the Hudson (11.26 mi if you use the point in the Hudson.)  And now come to find out PA and MA are only 79 miles apart as the crow flies from the I-84 tri-point to Sheffield, NJ and MA about 74 miles from the 87/287 junction to Sheffield, and PA and VT are about 118 mi. from between Deposit and Hancock to the SW corner of Pownal.

Are the distances for MA shorter to Sheffield than to Mt. Washington, or are you just being approximate?

Can someone calculate the distance by road from Hawaii?

Or confirm that CA is the closest non-bordering state, which would seem obvious, but it would also seem obvious that day breaks earlier in Maine than Florida and that's apparently not true.

[jp the roadgeek]

CT and NJ has to be the winner.  Using Google Maps's measuring tool, it is 11.69 mi. as the crow flies from the NW corner of the panhandle of CT (along NY 120) to the NE corner of NY/NJ just east of the Palisades Parkway along the west shore of the Hudson (11.26 mi if you use the point in the Hudson.)  And now come to find out PA and MA are only 79 miles apart as the crow flies from the I-84 tri-point to Sheffield, NJ and MA about 74 miles from the 87/287 junction to Sheffield, and PA and VT are about 118 mi. from between Deposit and Hancock to the SW corner of Pownal.

Are the distances for MA shorter to Sheffield than to Mt. Washington, or are you just being approximate?

Using the corner at Mt. Washington area which is in the town of Sheffield

Can someone calculate the distance by road from Hawaii?

Or confirm that CA is the closest non-bordering state, which would seem obvious, but it would also seem obvious that day breaks earlier in Maine than Florida and that's apparently not true.

That has to do with the seasons.  Definitely true in the summer, but not this time of year, because length of day variation is greater as you get closer to the poles.  Maine will get about 8 1/2 hours of daylight and FL about 10.  In June, Maine gets almost 16 and FL about 14.  Actually, northern Alaska wins every day from early May to early August because the sun never sets.  And you're right.  Only 2255 miles to the Aleutian Islands from Kauai.

[DandyDan]

For Minnesota it's Nebraska, about an hour and 20 minute drive from the MN border to NE via MN/IA 60 and US 75.

It would probably be shorter just to take US 75 its entire distance in Iowa, although as for driving time, it may be faster on IA 60 and US 75.

[cpzilliacus]

Alaska at least has a public auto ferry system allowing travelers and their cars to pass non-stop through British Columbia, so you can use the distance the ferry travels between Ketchikan AK and Bellingham WA.  That is almost certainly shorter than the overland road distance, since the shortest road connection between Alaska and Washington state (probably 875 miles between Hyder AK and Sumas WA) requires a long inland detour through Prince George BC. 

Which brings up an interesting question - why is there no analog to the Alaska Marine Highway System running between the California coast and one or several of the islands that make up the State of Hawaii?

[1995hoo]

Alaska at least has a public auto ferry system allowing travelers and their cars to pass non-stop through British Columbia, so you can use the distance the ferry travels between Ketchikan AK and Bellingham WA.  That is almost certainly shorter than the overland road distance, since the shortest road connection between Alaska and Washington state (probably 875 miles between Hyder AK and Sumas WA) requires a long inland detour through Prince George BC. 

Which brings up an interesting question - why is there no analog to the Alaska Marine Highway System running between the California coast and one or several of the islands that make up the State of Hawaii?

Isn't it something like 2500 miles from San Francisco to Honolulu via the great circle route? That'd be one very good reason not to have a ferry of that sort. It's much farther than the Alaskan distance Oscar cites.

(I recall a nonstop flight I took from Newark to Honolulu was a tick under 5000 miles.)

[cpzilliacus]

Alaska at least has a public auto ferry system allowing travelers and their cars to pass non-stop through British Columbia, so you can use the distance the ferry travels between Ketchikan AK and Bellingham WA.  That is almost certainly shorter than the overland road distance, since the shortest road connection between Alaska and Washington state (probably 875 miles between Hyder AK and Sumas WA) requires a long inland detour through Prince George BC. 

Which brings up an interesting question - why is there no analog to the Alaska Marine Highway System running between the California coast and one or several of the islands that make up the State of Hawaii?

Isn't it something like 2500 miles from San Francisco to Honolulu via the great circle route? That'd be one very good reason not to have a ferry of that sort. It's much farther than the Alaskan distance Oscar cites.

(I recall a nonstop flight I took from Newark to Honolulu was a tick under 5000 miles.)

I do not disagree with any of that.  But as a matter of policy it seems that there should be public, regular and well-advertised ocean linkages between the mainland U.S. and Hawaii (and, for that matter, perhaps Guam and the Northern Marianna Islands, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico).

The curious thing is that Alaska, unlike the rest of those parts of the U.S., has a decent land connection through Canada, except for railroad traffic (the Alaska Railroad can and does transport railroad traffic from Seattle on barges through Whittier).

[mjb2002]

For South Carolina, I was originally inclined to say Virginia, but I suspect that Tennessee is actually closer (both via a straight line and via I-26).

You are correct. Tennessee is actually closer to S.C. It is 65 miles from Travelers Rest to Flag Pond, Tenn. It is at least 106 miles from S.C. to Va. I also used US Route 25 for the calculation.