That looks like Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, LA., so the southern route is quicker, at least for IP packets!
Probably due to the "Apollo" transatlantic route .... from their marketing speak "Apollo is the world's most advanced transatlantic submarine fibre optic cable system running from London to New York and Paris to Washington D.C. The Apollo system has the greatest capacity of any system in the Atlantic."
Means you end up with results similar to the below :
Code:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms **************************************
2 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms **************************************
3 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms **************************************
4 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms ldn-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.250.238]
5 76 ms 77 ms 77 ms ash-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.246.68]
6 78 ms 77 ms 77 ms level3-113898-ash-bb1.telia.net [213.248.88.86]
7 82 ms 83 ms 79 ms vlan89.csw3.Washington1.Level3.net [4.68.17.190]
8 77 ms 88 ms 90 ms ae-74-74.ebr4.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1 81]
9 155 ms 145 ms 145 ms ae-4-4.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.132.81]
10 200 ms 145 ms 145 ms ae-1-60.edge3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.144.9
]
11 145 ms 145 ms 157 ms xe2-0.cr01.lax01.mzima.net [4.71.136.2]
12 156 ms 156 ms 155 ms 67.201.17.150
13 156 ms 157 ms 156 ms pprune.org [67.201.16.181]