A 500-mile radius is a useful way to think about longer regional travel. It is far enough to span multiple states or provinces, reach several major cities, and shift you into a different climate or cultural region. For most people, 500 miles is the tipping point between a long day of driving and a short flight, which makes it helpful for planning weekends, work trips, or regional outreach. On this page, the circle is measured as straight-line great-circle distance from your starting point, not a driving route. Roads, terrain, and detours usually add significant mileage, so your actual driving distance and time will be longer than the radius shown here.
Click below to visualize this specific distance radius.
By highway driving, a rough estimate is about 8-10 hours, but traffic, speed limits, and stops can change that a lot.
No. The circle is straight-line (great-circle) distance. Driving distance is usually longer because roads don't run in a straight line.
The radius is measured over the Earth's surface using great-circle geometry, which gives the shortest path between two points on a sphere.
Where you start changes what falls inside the circle -- coastlines, borders, and terrain all shape what's reachable within 500 miles.
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