What is the shortest water route from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean?

From eastern Lake Ontario straight east.

You might want to take the Erie Canal to the Hudson River.

The shortest water route from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean is the St. Lawrence Seaway. To arrive at this answer, we need to understand the geography of the region. The Great Lakes are a group of five interconnected freshwater lakes located in North America, straddling the border between the United States and Canada. The lakes are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario.

To find the shortest water route from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, we need to identify which waterways connect these two bodies of water. The St. Lawrence River is the primary outlet of the Great Lakes system, flowing northeast from Lake Ontario through Canada before emptying into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is a system of locks, canals, and channels that allows ships to navigate through the river and connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. It stretches over 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers), including the river and several canals, all the way to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It serves as an important trade route for maritime transportation, connecting the Great Lakes region with international markets.

In summary, the shortest water route from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean is the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects the lakes to the St. Lawrence River and eventually leads to the Atlantic Ocean via the Gulf of St. Lawrence.