Why is Western Avenue the "longest" street in Chicago? (Evanston: suburbs, single)

[EddieOlSkool]

Hearing some Allstate commercial, the guy in it mentioned that Western Ave is the longest street in Chicago, stretching from Evanston (Howard St at Asbury Ave) to Harvey (Dixie Hwy at Sibley Blvd). But how is this the longest street? Harlem Ave stretches from Glenview (at Lehigh Ave) to Peotone (in some random cornfield it seems).

Western Ave can't be longer than Harlem since Glenview is further north than Evanston and Peotone is WAY further south than Harvey. Dafuq.

[Not_liking_FL]

Harlem runs thru a lot of suburbs while Western is in the city limits the entire stretch.

[Ace Rothstein]

Longest street in Chicago, not Chicagoland.

[ChicagoMeO]

Actually every street is very long, in fact, Bemont, going east of Sheridan is very long. Unfortunately it is pretty much under the lake, but if there were no lake, you would have streets stretching all the way east to the state of Michigan.

[rubbersoul89]

It's the longest urban street in the world, or so I've read before.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Not_liking_FL

Harlem runs thru a lot of suburbs while Western is in the city limits the entire stretch.

Not quite true re: Western Avenue.

Whether Western Avenue is the longest street in Chicago (and supposedly the longest continuous street in the world within a single city limits) is subject to some debate. It takes the prize only if you include the portion of Western where half the street runs through Evergreen Park. The longest street that is entirely within the city limits is Halsted, which runs uninterrupted from Sheridan (3900 N) down to 123rd Street.