In Texas, everything is bigger. The tendency of one of the United States’ largest states to be extravagant extends to transportation. Contrary to popular belief, greater does not always equal better, and even less so when it comes to efficiency.
As a result, the state merely claims to have the world’s widest motorway. The Katy Freeway, a section of Interstate 10 that begins in the Katy suburb west of Houston, has 26 lanes of traffic.
Where is Katy Highway located?
In fact, the Katy Freeway is one of the world’s widest freeways, located in Houston, Texas, in the United States’ southern region. In 2008, the route was extended to a total of 26 lanes.
If this road is one of the widest, you can also discover our article about the longest roads here.
The path has been paved. It’s located west of Houston on I-10, with an annual average daily traffic of about 219,000 automobiles. The route connects Katy’s western suburbs to the city center. Also, Interstate 10 stretches for 23 miles (37 km) from its connection with Interstate 610 to Katy, Texas (where the highway gets its name).
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You can locate the Katy Freeway on the map below:
Enlarge the map
Facts about the Katy Freeway near Houston:
In 2008, a $2.8 billion road extension project was announced. The Katy Freeway was completed in 2011. This section was then divided into six standard traffic lanes, four access lanes, and three lanes reserved for heavy vehicles and transportation vehicles operating during peak hours.
The goal of these expansions was to reduce highway congestion and hence improve traffic flow.
However, as the famous adage goes, it’s not the size that matters. Despite the increase in the number of open lanes, traffic has continued to deteriorate. In fact, the commute times increasing by 30 percent on average in the morning and 55 percent in the afternoon.
Indeed, according to urbanists, these results are the result of induced demand, which refers to the idea that increasing the capacity of a route encourages more people to drive, which is in direct opposition to the original goal.
Another well known urban road is the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in New York because of its “triple levels” structure.
A video of the journey on the Katy Freeway in Texas:
You can see how this road is crazy. For example, you just have to watch this YouTube video as it shows a part of the road:
Finally, the Katy Freeway is a remarkable engineering feat, boasting one of the world’s widest highways with numerous lanes. It is an important thoroughfare in the Houston metropolitan area. The Katy Freeway is a convenient and impressive route to take whether you’re commuting to work, running errands, or simply exploring the city.
Picture credit: DjibLive on Facebook.com / By Aliciak3yz – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40222519
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