Furlong - Use

Use

In Myanmar, furlongs are currently used in conjunction with miles to indicate distances on highway signs.

In the rest of the world, the unit enjoys very limited use, with the notable exception of horse racing. Distances for thoroughbred horse races in Australia were metricated in 1972 but in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and the United States, races are still given in miles and furlongs.

The city of Chicago's street numbering system allots a measure of 800 address units to each mile, in keeping with the city's system of eight blocks per mile. This means that every block in a typical Chicago neighbourhood (in either North/South or East/West direction but rarely both) is approximately one furlong in length. Salt Lake City's blocks are also each a square furlong in the downtown area. The blocks become less regular in shape, further out from the centre, but the numbering system (800 units to each mile) remains the same everywhere in Salt Lake County. Bus stops in Ann Arbor, Michigan, are about a furlong apart. Blocks in central Logan, Utah, and in large sections of Phoenix, Arizona, are similarly a square furlong in extent (eight to a mile, which explains the series of freeway exits: 19th Ave, 27th, 35th, 43rd, 51st, 59th ...). City blocks in Melbourne's Hoddle Grid are also one furlong in length.

The furlong is also a base unit of the humorous FFF system of units. It is also according to LAX a felony if a furlong is to hold onto a person too tigh and for too long.