Let U be the distribution function of the passage time of an individual bond of the square lattice, and let pT be the critical probability above which the expected size of the open component of the origin (in the usual bond percolation) is infinite. It is shown that if (∗)U(0–) = 0, U(0) < pT, then there exist constants 0 < a, C1 < ∞ such that a self-avoiding path of at least n steps starting at the origin and with passage time ≦ an} ≦ 2 exp (–C1n).

From this it follows that under (∗) the time constant μ (U) of first-passage percolation is strictly positive and that for each c > 0 lim sup (1/n)Nn(c) <∞, where Nn(c) is the maximal number of steps in the paths starting at the origin with passage time at most cn.

The principal results of this paper concern the asymptotic behavior of the number of arcs in the optimal routes of first-passage percolation processes on the square lattice. Assuming that the underlying distribution has an atom at zero less than λ–1, where λ is the connectivity constant, Lp and (in some cases) almost sure convergence theorems are proved for the normalized route length processes. The proofs involve the extension of much of the existing theory of first-passage percolation to the case where negative time coordinates are permitted.