Is “have a way to go” a just shortened form of “have a long way to go”?

Is "have a way to go" a just shortened form of "have a long way to go"?

Today's (August 24) New York Times carries an article titled "Progress has
seemed fitful for many at March" with the lead-copy;
"For Daniel R. Smith, 81, who attended the March on Washington in 1963,
the country has a ways to go in realizing the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/us/a-time-to-return-to-and-reflect-on-the-march-on-washington.html?hp&_r=0
I was drawn to the expression, "the country has a ways to go in realizing
the dream of Rev. King" because I think, I'm familiar with the idiom,
"have a long way to go," but not with "have a way to go" in the sense of
having a lot of work to do ahead.
Cambridge English Dictionary defines "a long way to go" as an idiom
meaning a lot of work to do or improvements to make, but it doesn't carry
the phrase, "a way to go."
Oxford English Dictionary carries neither "a long way to go" nor "a way to
go."
Google Ngram shows that usage of "have a long way to go" existed before /
since 1840 and it is on a constant increase to a ratio of 0.000054% in
2007. On the other hand, the usage of "have a way to go" emerged in 1920,
and its usage remains one digit low at 0.0000014% level in 2007.
Here's my question:
Is "have the way to go" simply a shortened form of "have a long way to
go"? If it is, doesn't it get you confused with the other usages of 'a
(the) way to go,' such as "You have the way to go to college by getting
scholarship," "There should be a way to go in finding the solution."?