Because on a globe, a great-circle route is the shortest route between two places.
It is a principle route running east-west.
Assuming the earth to be a perfect sphere, the shortest distance is an arc of the great circle. The two places and the centre of the earth define a plane. The great circle is the circle formed by the intersection of that plane and the surface of the earth. The shortest route between the two places is the smaller of the two arcs along that circle.
It depends on the route that you take. There is nothing in the question to suggest that the distance of interest is the shortest distance. In real life, the quickest route is not necessarily the shortest since travelling on highways may be faster even if longer. In such cases the relevant distance may not be the shortest. Also, you might wish to take the "scenic" route. In any built-up area the shortest meaningful distance between two points will not be "as the crow flies": the taxicab metric (for example 3 blocks East and 4 blocks North), which was developed by Minkowsky, is more appropriate. On the surface of a sphere, such as the Earth, the shortest distance is an arc of the great circle. In most cases this is not the straight line on a map.
Consider the Earth as a sphere - the fact that it is oblate is only of minor significance. The shortest route on the surface of a sphere is an arc of the Great Circle. This is a circle whose centre is at the centre of the sphere and which passes through the start and end points.
The shortest and fastest highway route from New York City to Miami, Florida will be along Interstate 95 South all the way. The approximate distance from New York City to Miami along I-95 is 1,276-miles.
140 miles
5 hours by flying airplane
Take I-35 NORTH to I-35E NORTH to Dallas.
About 2814 miles using the shortest route.
National Highway no.5 by road will be the shortest route, there are alternate routes through NH6 and NH7
Shortest route 9 hours 7 mins. Longest route 10 hours 8 mins.
Average distance is 2,940 miles, depending on where in California you want to go to.
The shortest route would be to take I-93 N, and then I-89 N.
The route with the shortest driving time is about 150 miles.
Driving the I-95 between Baltimore and Miami is the fastest route. It is about 1100 miles and will take about 17 hours driving non-stop.
The shortest route appears to be on W Tx 21 and W US 290, 80.2 miles