The Shortest Interstate Highways In The United States

A driver can cover the shortest Interstate highway in America before a song reaches its chorus. I-878 in Queens and I-110 in El Paso each run just 0.70 mile. One appears only as NY 878 on road signs; the other leads to an international crossing. Farther down the ranking, Cheyenne has a signalized city avenue with an Interstate number, while Detroit has a 1.15-mile freeway under reconsideration. Mileage comes from the Federal Highway Administration’s January 2026 route log, with Wyoming records used for I-180. Only complete routes count; state fragments and the apparent Louisiana I-182 database error do not.

Traveling east on the Nassau Expressway (New York State Route 878) towards the JFK Expressway interchange along the northern edge of John F. Kennedy Airport, By Tdorante10, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons The country’s shortest Interstate designation hides in plain sight near John F. Kennedy International Airport. FHWA records I-878 at 0.70 mile, but signs identify the corridor as NY 878, the Nassau Expressway. The Interstate designation applies only to a short eastbound segment, so even frequent airport drivers may never know they used it.

The larger state route has a much bigger role than that number suggests. A New York State Department of Transportation reconstruction covered 3.5 miles between Cross Bay Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, and a later $130 million project raised a flood-prone portion of the expressway. I-878 may look like a footnote on a federal spreadsheet, but it sits inside a heavily used approach to one of the nation’s busiest airports.

Southern terminus of northbound Interstate 110 in El Paso, By TehBuzzy, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons I-110 ties for first place at 0.70 mile, but its purpose is far easier to see. The El Paso route links the I-10 and US 54 network with the Bridge of the Americas, a major crossing into Ciudad Juarez. Beyond the border, the connection meets Mexico’s Federal Highway 45.

That makes I-110 less a miniature road than a compact international gateway. Passenger vehicles, commercial traffic, inspections, and border queues all converge near a route that takes less than a minute to drive when traffic is clear. The Bridge of the Americas is also undergoing a federal modernization effort, adding another layer of activity around the little Interstate. Few highways compress such a large logistical task into seven-tenths of a mile.

O.S. Warden Bridge, I-315, Montana, By Joseph Thiebes, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons Great Falls has an Interstate spur so discreet that its number is largely a matter of official record. FHWA measures I-315 at 0.83 mile. The route branches near I-15 southwest of central Great Falls and feeds traffic into the business-route and city-street network.

Drivers encounter other route numbers as the road approaches town, leaving I-315 little room to establish an identity of its own. Montana transportation records nevertheless track the spur as a distinct route, and it remains part of the main highway approach to Great Falls. The designation does one narrow job: it bridges the gap between a major north-south Interstate and the local roads that finish the trip.

Eastbound I-94 exit 156 to Bismarck Expressway. I-194 is unsigned. North Dakota’s I-194 covers 1.05 miles in Mandan. It leaves I-94 and joins the Bismarck Expressway corridor on the west side of the Missouri River, creating a direct freeway connection toward Mandan and Bismarck.

Its design is more conventional than its mileage. Ramps handle access throughout the short run, unlike Cheyenne’s I-180, which carries its Interstate label along a signalized urban street. That distinction matters: I-194 looks and operates like a standard controlled-access highway. The surprise is how fast it ends. Drivers have barely settled into the spur before the federal designation gives way to the expressway beyond it.

US85 North I-180 North – 5th Street Light, By formulanone, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons Cheyenne’s I-180 breaks the usual Interstate script. Historical FHWA records put it at roughly 1.06 miles, while current WYDOT planning documents continue to identify Central Avenue as I-180. Instead of an uninterrupted freeway, the route includes traffic signals and at-grade crossings on its way into central Cheyenne.

The odd design comes from function rather than distance. I-180 provides a numbered connection between I-80 and the city center, but the existing street was never converted into the kind of limited-access road that drivers associate with the Interstate system. It is an official route with the manners of a downtown avenue. The latest federal auxiliary-route table omits it, yet Wyoming’s continued use of the designation keeps this 1.06-mile curiosity in the ranking.

A picture of Interstate 375 in downtown Detroit, Michigan, By TenPoundHammer, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons Detroit’s I-375 measures 1.15 miles, but its history reaches well beyond the pavement. The freeway opened in 1964 beside land cleared in Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, neighborhoods that had been centers of Black life and business. Its construction became part of a broader urban-renewal program that displaced residents and severed street connections.

MDOT is now evaluating a proposal to replace the depressed freeway with a street-level boulevard. Cost concerns and public criticism prompted the agency to revise its concept in late 2025, and community meetings continued in 2026. The final design remains unsettled, so the existing trench still carries traffic between I-75 and the Jefferson Avenue area. No other entry here shows so clearly how a very short highway can leave a very long civic argument.

Looking west from Interstate 115’s eastern point of beginning along Iron Street in Butte, Montana. By paulthemapguy – Flickr, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons Butte’s I-115 measures 1.20 miles. The spur leaves the shared I-15 and I-90 corridor and heads toward the city street system, ending near Excelsior Avenue. It is essentially a handoff between two major long-distance highways and a historic mining city.

The setting makes the number mildly comic. Montana is famous for drives measured in hundreds of miles, while Butte’s own Interstate spur barely clears one. Great Falls also has the 0.83-mile I-315, giving the state two entries among the nation’s shortest routes. In both cases, the small mileage reflects a precise purpose: an Interstate connection only needs to last until the local network can take over.

Eastbound Interstate 375, Florida, By DanTD, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons St. Petersburg has two short Interstate spurs branching off I-275, and I-375 is the shorter one. Its 1.22 miles carry eastbound traffic toward the northern side of downtown before the freeway meets the city street grid.

I-175 performs a similar job south of downtown, but the pair are separate routes rather than two halves of a single highway. Their combined federal mileage is just 2.51 miles. That compact arrangement gives drivers two distinct downtown approaches without extending either Interstate far into the urban core. I-375 is not trying to cross Florida or even Pinellas County. It is a dedicated front door with its own route number.

View east along Interstate 587 and New York State Route 28, By Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons I-587 runs 1.23 miles on the west side of Kingston. It connects the New York State Thruway at exit 19 with Route 28, the main highway continuing toward communities in the Catskills.

That geography explains the route’s brevity. The two highways needing a connection sit close together, so I-587 completes the transfer without an extra mile to spare. Unlike Queens’ hidden I-878 designation, this road functions as a recognizable standalone freeway connection, even though Route 28 shares the corridor. A westbound traveler can leave the Thruway, cross the entire Interstate, and reach Route 28 almost as soon as Kingston has come into view.

Eastbound Interstate 175, Florida, By DanTD, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons I-175 runs 1.29 miles between I-275 and the southern side of downtown St. Petersburg. Eastbound drivers encounter the exits for Martin Luther King Jr. Street South and 6th Street South in quick succession before the freeway enters the downtown street network.

The route ties Miami’s I-395 for tenth place and sits only 0.07 mile behind St. Petersburg’s other downtown spur, I-375. Its work is basic but useful: divert city-bound traffic off the regional Interstate and distribute it near the center. The whole federally designated route begins and ends inside St. Petersburg, making it less a journey across the city than a carefully engineered last mile.

I-395 spur heading east through Downtown Miami, By Averette, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons Miami’s I-395 also measures 1.29 miles. It begins at I-95, crosses the north side of downtown, and reaches the MacArthur Causeway approach. Traffic can then continue toward PortMiami and Miami Beach after the Interstate designation ends.

The route is currently at the center of an enormous reconstruction program involving I-395, State Road 836, and I-95. FDOT’s work includes a new signature bridge over Northeast 2nd Avenue and major changes to elevated roadways and connections. Construction remained active in 2026. The contrast is sharp: one of the nation’s shortest Interstates sits inside one of Florida’s most ambitious highway projects. Its mileage is small; the engineering around it is anything but.

None of these routes exists to carry drivers across a state. Their value lies in the final connection: an airport approach, an international bridge, a downtown exit, or the short gap between a major freeway and a local road. Several barely announce themselves, yet each fills a specific seam in the national network. The Interstate system may be measured in tens of thousands of miles, but some of its most revealing pieces fit comfortably inside a morning walk.