I went back out to my favorite system that I discovered in '17, and first mapped when Horizons came out, and first footfalled when Odyssey came out, and first bio discovery. With 96 bodies, 82 orbital slots and 126 planetary slots.
I was going to see if I could plan out a bridge, even though the nearest inhabited system is still 416 ly away. I'm not gonna do 26+ stations. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to plan ahead. So I got there and...
The nearest star in the correct direction is 19.4 ly away.
The nearest star in any direction is 19.1 ly away.
I was going to see if I could plan out a bridge, even though the nearest inhabited system is still 416 ly away. I'm not gonna do 26+ stations. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to plan ahead. So I got there and...
The nearest star in the correct direction is 19.4 ly away.

The nearest star in any direction is 19.1 ly away.