The longest road trip I ever drove was across the United States, 2,600 miles in all, which took just 2.5 days. At the end, I couldn’t have been happier it was over. That thing about mountain majesties and amber waves is true. But no matter how many times you win the license plate game, long drives can make a person crazy.

In Russia, however, city planners are trying to challenge that thinking. They’re hoping that in the future, you’ll be able to travel from Europe to Asia and then—a few weeks later—to the Americas without getting on a plane. The only catch is all via an extremely long road trip, currently envisioned from London, England, to Fairbanks, Alaska, clocking in between 10,000 and 14,000 miles (17,000