Houston doesn't have the world's widest freeway. You have to go to Toronto to see the world's biggest widest and busiest freeway. Please see Politifact Texas. It explains the origin of this false claim. You will find it by entering "World's widest freeway isn't where Sylvester Turner thinks it it."
As a resident of Houston, you've somehow made the bane of our existence an experience to remember. Glad to see someone finding such joy in (and on) our freeways. Much props!
Thank you very much! I always enjoy driving around Houston when I get the chance (Been 3 times), it's a great city in that sense and as a roadgeek, a great "freeway experience".
@@kendalbridges897 exactly...you get idiots merging into freeway traffic at 40 miles a friggen hour...when everyone is zipping down the freeway between 65 and 80....
the video calls it the worlds widest freeway... Really??? I've seen wider freeways in Russia and India. The only difference, in those places it is a free-for-all and most of them don't believe in lanes and blinkers. BUT I do agree with you. Houston freeways are a anxiety nightmare ANYTIME of day and I don't think anything can fix it. lol
I live in Houston i thought this bridge was normal. I guess it is true we do like things big in Texas here it just seems so normal here i never would've thought otherwise
The greater Houston area is the size of the state of Connecticut. Car is a must. Which makes us describe distance in time frames. "Where is your house?"..."10mins that way."(rather than blocks)
I actually live right there. I 10 west (katy) and Gessner exit. William brothers construction company widened I 10 to what it is today. As big as it is, the traffic is still horrible.
That's because so many people has moved to the area, with the expansion of new development in Cypress, Katy & now Fulshear is even growing like crazy. I live in the Katy area & I feel that it's time to widen Grand Parkway 99 only two lanes on each side of the highway get a little crowded during rush hours as well on the weekends.
I live on mason road and I’ve lived in Katy since 2005 and personally I’m not a fan of how things have changed I remember when it was all fields but since 99 got built it’s been expanding quickly and destroying what I’ve lived with for so long and it’s unfortunate
Eddie Greene Lucky people only driving on this freeway.... After i watched this video.. Now i have another new dream.. That is driving on this freeway.. Currently driving in middle East.. I want a driving job in USA....
U have to be kidding!... It is one of the worst! Try getting to Houston from the Woodlands when I45 has an accident ... Few options exist to get out of the Woodlands other than 45. Houston has some of the worst transportation and urban planning I have ever seen
I am from Chicago and recently visited Houston Texas...the highways are wayyyy bigger than ours ..they are in the process of building more in Chicago..Texas is huge
Remember: More Lanes induce more traffic (induced demand). Building more Lanes does help in the short term, but after a while the additional cars make it same or worse than before
Well, it's mostly the case for car dependant places, which USA and Canada outrageously are. In the Netherlands, the A2 Amsterdam Utrecht was expanded from 2×3 to superhighway 2×5 a year (2010 vs 2011) before the Katy freeway. Still not jammed to this day. Probably even only dummy traffic using it. Trains act like countrywide metro system. Also, having better drivers makes wideking more effective too :p
This just became one of my favorite videos. I love driving on I-10 at night to music like this. Thanks for showing how beautiful Texas can be! Heading towards Austin is such a good feeling lol
In Texas, everything is supersized! Or so it seems at least. It's also amazing how quickly it turned form such a monstrosity into a rural 4-lane freeway.
@@nowanloka4302 30 lanes across??? What the hell are you talking about?? You must take too much hallucinogens or some crap like that! Pay close attention, thats only 4 toll free lanes plus the 2 toll lanes making a total of 6 lanes on each side, and thats only on that area, the west side, the California's cities freeways are mostly 6 lanes on each side, oh, but if you want to see a wider freeway, go to Atlanta GA, both I-75 and I-85 north of loop I-285 are 8 lanes on each side each freeway, a lot wider than Houstons freeways!!
I love this stuff and if people would just really open their eyes they would see the beauty in it! I live in San Antonio and Everytime we visit htx just as we enter we're like wow! now this is a city. Thanks to all for their hard work.
It's odd living in such a big city cause I see San Antonio and think "well that's not that big, only a million" and then I remember it's one of the biggest cities in america
I always thought SA was similar to Houston then I spent a few weeks there for work and couldn't believe how small the city felt. I think Houston is like 2.5-3x the population.
what beauty?? concrete jungle who wants to life there! you americans should get out of your cars and start walking or cycling would be far better for your heatlh and reduce air polution
love it , living in Houston it's hard to appreciate the views since it's familiarity I guess, you've made me see the city different, which is a good thing haha
Everything IS bigger in Texas! Reminds me of my nightmare drive through there last year. I remember saying, "And I thought the Atlanta Connector was wide; geez!" Just got myself in the left lane and waited for lanes to vanish.
Based on screen time (467 sec), distance (34 mi), travel time (30 min), and average speed of 68 mph, this shows what driving at an average speed of 267 mph would look like.
@@blueberrysavers3547 averaging accounts for any slow downs. If you drive 10mph 30 minutes and 20mph 30 minutes your average is 15. If there weren't any slow downs in the video the average would be higher.
Great observation Frank. Friends from out of state ask me Why do you need an 8 cylinder twin turbo ( BMW X5M ). This explains it very simply. You need power to break away from the packs of bad drivers Most people in Houston would have no clue how to get from Houston to Katy without I-10
Moved to Houston in 89. Left in 2003. Came back and saw this in 2014... What a massive change!!! Even with massive freeways, Houston rush hour traffic is a cluster*.... For many reasons... A tribute to the fact that in the absence of Master planned commuting and zoning, these projects tends to not solve the greater problem... Houston is a world class city and the epicenter of a lot of good things not only for Texas, but the US and the world
Awesome video, thanks for the ride! 🙂 I like how it transitions from a mean, modern, urban sea of concrete to an old, rural, 4 lane freeway at the edge of the city. Feels like going back in time!
But Houston and Los Angeles have to give way to the world's widest, biggest and busiest freeway. That's the 401 through greater Toronto. Katy freeway is not nor has it ever been world's widest freeway.Check out Politifact Texas. World's widest freeway isn't where Sylvester Turner thinks it is.
I am not sure if it really counts, but back 20 years or so, it was stated that the widest highway in the US was the approach to the toll plaza in Oakland to the San Francisco Bay Bridge. It was 33 lanes including the five Eastbound lanes. I drove on it back in the 70s. There were no electronic passes at the time, but there were a few "exact change" lanes. This huge number of lanes meant there were no delays in the normal five lane westbound road. The other neat thing about it is that the toll is collected only for westbound traffic. It was fifty cents at the time.
Wow that was an amazing video thanks a ton I traveled through there a million times and I still can't get enough of driving through there from Houston to bellville back and forth lol
Awesome work on this! TxDOT blows my mind away, with some of the freeways they're able to "get away with" building, lol. Love the Dinka song you chose, and the way you synchronized everything together. I can only imagine what that reconstruction project will look like through downtown Houston, when it's all said and done. Fantastic video; I'm putting this on my "favorites" playlist.
FreewayBrent Thanks, yes what TxDOT does/gets away with is amazing! and there's all that stuff in Dallas too. Thank you for introducing me to that song many moons ago, I liked it enough to buy it and I'm glad I did.
Distances in Texas are vast, and not just east-west. While it's 856 miles from El Paso to Orange, it's 872 miles north-south between Stratford (in the Panhandle) and Brownsville (in the Valley). It's further from El Paso to Texarkana (814mi) than from Texarkana to Chicago (784mi)!
Ahhhhh this brings back memories of trying to avoid stray mattresses and those huge wire things.... also the random hunks of tire and car material... and the “drivers”.
Nice video. I'm impressed not only with the interstate by itself but mainly because of the great video quality and the effort you made (with graphics and text) to explain all the little details of what was happening during the ride tour. It was like I was really there in the car.
I grew up in SoCal and we use the 101 to go North or South. When I moved to Houston I was amazed at the number of freeways and the amazing feeder roads in the city. Hands down way better than California’s set up. I’ll take Houston traffic over Los Angeles any day of the week.
Freewayjim I don’t think any of you really notices it, and I really don’t like being negative, but the “architecture” of the very few low-rise buildings along the way is absolutely HORRIBLE. And the very reason is the highway itself. It’s the worst urban model possible, ever. One of the main reasons for climate change in the world is these highways’ fault, i.e., the US having built its urban development during the second half of the XX century based on this spread out model of low density and wide highways. It’s also impersonal, the main reason for deaths in the US (road accidents), it doesn’t allow for social cohesion of the inhabitants, it’s classist (vs. poor people who can’t and shouldn’t have to be able to afford a car), it makes people lose too much valuable time of their lives commuting, it makes them waste money on cars and their maintenance when they could and should use mass public transit and use that money for something else, and many, MANY more negative things. There’s no beauty here. This video is gross to anyone who has the slightest idea about urban planning. All I see is one of the worst errors ever made, even negatively impacting us people living in other countries in the rest of the world, all because of the greed of a few big companies (car companies), as with almost everything US-related. Absolute trash. ❌🗑
@@rafaelzamora3357 Yeah, I'm truly amazed at how everyone is talking about how great these freeways are. I'm happy my city finally tore down a monstrosity and earthquake hazard, though unfortunately they aren't doing anything particularly useful with the right of way under it (just more car space...).
Speaking as a truck driver: The great thing about Phoenix is if you're traveling east or west on I-10 through to another city you can totally bypass it to avoid rush hour traffic by utilizing I-8 and hwy 85. And it's only about a couple of miles difference. Try that with Houston. You're pretty much screwed no matter what.
@@Freewayjim True, but look at all of the miles you add to your trip by using the beltway. You'll waste just as much time going that route. Oh well, at least you're moving and not wearing out your brakes.
It is true, everything IS bigger in Texas. That segment of the I-10 looks really like a piece of beauty and a delight to drive in (outside of rush hour). I haven't seen so many lanes even near a toll plaza or one of those former big border complexes on European motorways before the Schengen treaty (including the old border checkpoints on the transit roads between West and East Germany). Not even in Germany do we have that many lanes, the most we have are like eight lanes, four in each direction, max maybe 10 in front of the Elbtunnel on the A7 in Hamburg.
Laur Oras I was about to say. All those damn lanes and I drive on the far right at 2 am because idiots camp in the left lane. The right lane is the only one open. People get onto the freeway and then immediately merge left across all 12 lanes into the speed lane.
@@AverageLaur It's not that we don't know how to use them, it's that we have people that are too fucking ignorant to stay out of the left lane and keep it for passing. However...with that said even if they were just 2 or 3 lanes each way ....with a city of 6 million people...3 lanes in one direction is just not enough when over 80% or so of the population commutes to work. London is the only city in Europe that actually has more people....and of course they have a great public transport system...and most people don't work very far from home. Most of Houston works at least 10 miles from where their house, and that's probably an understatement. .
I grew up in Katy. I saw the slow painful transformation it took to create this. I drove it. Every single day. For ten years. Makes me homesick honestly.
That's true from Sealy to brookshire I had to stop driving that way last year because when they got into accidents at the Brazos river there were a lot of traffic there
I remember my first few times driving in Houston...takes some getting used to the “shared” exit/ entrance lanes...and the height of those interchanges/overpasses!!! You feel like you are on a tall roller coaster. I used to plan my trips in order to pass through Houston very early on Sat or Sun. Lol. Now, I live in Houston and realize that Tx has the best Interstate system in the US. IMO.
+Kellen Vargas as far as population Los Angeles have more people as far as city size no. Los Angeles is 503 square miles and Houston is 627 square miles.
I have lived here for just over 4 years now. I drove this very route today. Yes, at 5 PM this is a parking lot. But if traffic opens just a little its full Mad Max. Do not under any circumstances honk you horn or get too demonstrative in response. Everyone is armed. Other than that it's nice to take a ride.
Love this! The Katy Fwy reminds me of the Artesia and Riverside Freeways (CA-91) which is also known for the WORST traffic. People can’t just vibe with going fast together and staying on the surface streets if they’re not going very far
I was born and raised in Houston and after exiting the military, I decided to stay in Germany. Last week my family and I came back from vacationing in Htown and I can tell you it was horrible driving there! It did improve after a few days, but the start was not nice. Even with the navigation system I found it strenuous having to concentrate so much. Houston has changed so much over the years and it seems like whenever we go there, there`s something different. On a positive note, we had a ball and we are already planning the next trip for April of next year. First stop? Pappadeaux. 🙂
Back in 1973, when I got my first drivers license, my mom drove me out to Katy, had us switch places and then had me drive the Katy Freeway back to the Loop 610 interchange. She said she wanted me to legally know the feel of driving 75 before the laws went into effect mandating lower speed limits. I was doing well until we had a sudden shower around the Antoine Dr. and Bingle Rd. exits. The road began swerving and I couldn't see the bumps between the lanes so I just followed the lights of the cars in front of me. 1-10 takes you all the way from California to Florida is one of my favorite roads.
i love ur videos i live in houston myself the katy freeway is a monster during the rush hour just like interstate 69 going to rosenburg tx it pretty bad ass driving here it like ur going on a roller coaster
Live in Houston and loved the video. Filmed in 2015 alot has changed since then. Its growing even bigger around 288 and the medical district. Loved the music in the video too. Nice job!
Jim, it's nice to see that I'm not weird. I found someone who loves freeways and bridges as much as I do! ! lol.....All of your videos are awesome! ! I can watch them for hours. I would be honored if you used the following song for one of your videos: "Let's Wax a Fatty" by the group Loose Ends. I'm sure you would love the song. Thanks again!
Thanks, if you want to meet more people who love this stuff you should join the FreewayJim facebook group. I don't take song requests due to the nature of how I go about finding music to fit certain footage, it is rarely something that is pre-determined.
Great video! I live and drive in Houston all the time, but still enjoyed your drive-through. The tall bridge from I-10 eastbound onto 99 northbound is always neat to drive up, you can see all of the city!
living in Houston I always enjoyed my westbound commute to Katy on I 10!! i10 is so much better than the other freeways like 290. Thank you for this video, I love your appreciation for the beautiful freeway system!
During hurricane Rita world largest evacuation of people look it up. Took us 18 hours to get form the south side of Houston to the north side of Houston. True story
Oh hell yeah!!! That's my town!!! H-Town!!! I absolutely love the driving although you do have to put up with people who are wreckles driving and excessive speeding. I know you got to go with the flow with a traffic and there are times when we are doing 85 or 90 in a formation and then Here Comes fancy sports cars motorcycles and so on probably doing twice as fast. It's no different then a person walking down the highway where the speed limit is 80 miles per hour and traffic going by passing you up. I just mind my own business watch my surroundings and anticipate anything and always have a contingency plan. I've seen too many accidents.
Try 90 south between 610 and Stafford around 2 pm. Limit is 55, but if you are going under 75, you're begging to get rear ended. I've been trying to keep with the flow at about 90-100, and people are still passing me like I'm standing still. And people still walk across 8 lanes like it's some little back alley. This city crazy af.
People here in Houston ste killed all day long.just on the roads.not counting the robberies and all the stealing.lm ftom ga ive been here i moved to Houston in1974. Have i ever seen changes.im moving to fla as soon ad i can.ive out grown houston or it has me It doesn't matter im out of here.
Everything is Bigger in TEXAS!!! I'm proud to have the widest section of freeway in the world!! I drive this exact route from I-10 West & Beltway 8(Sam Houston Toll Road) towards San Antonio every day for work. Funny thing is, this video is 5 years old & it has grown quite a bit since!! When you get to Katy, there's Bucees gas station w/100 gas pumps & the longest car wash in the world! Yes, two of the world's largest on one interstate!! Gotta Love TEXAS!!!
Being a native Houstonian, I never considered the shear size of the city. Whenever someone visits and says "it's boring in Houston", I always think to myself "they only saw one small parcel of Houston's expanse."
All I can say is Atlanta can use a lesson in road building. Here is a prime example. We just don't have the space to build like this. Freeways in Houston are so wide open. Even Florida is improving especially in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas. Atlanta c'mon!!! Great video by the way!
Im SO in agreement we gotta stack our freeways interchanges and light our freeways up. Im patient we gotta remember texas has waaaaay mire $ than us but in due time. ... I hope
They missed their chance with those idiotic "express lanes" on 75 from the Braves' new park. It was built at one of the worst places possible. Should've extended Marta all over instead.
Will I live in TEXAS the HOUSTON area of Pearland. The poeple in TEXAS voted for a tax bond too improve traffic. Better freeways higher taxes. We don't care don't like traffic
Kevin Howard FR LIKE YOU WANTED TO DRIVE ON A FREEWAY LIKE THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME YOU KNOW I COULD BE SO ANXIOUS I WOULD JUST STAY ON THE FRONTAGE ROAD?
At the start, I love the new reconstruction of the Y interchange of I-610 TX and US 290. Vehicles can easily access to and from I-10/US 90 (It's a concurrency between Katy and the East Loop.) by taking those long ramps between the stack and Y interchanges those are next to the sides of the West Loop.
I worked in Houston living my home at 4:00 AM going all the way to Texas City Refinery. Typically, I returned home at 7pm. Average Speed was 65 MPH. I drove an Acura 3.5TL
I am from Madrid Spain, We have the A-2 freeway (Madrid-French Border). The road section Madrid center-Airport was built by the americans in the sixties, there are american style overpasses as well as a nice interchange... do you know its name??, The "Nudo Eisenhower" or Eisenhower Interchange!!.. Regards and great videos!!
I remember when they were still constructing it. At one point, they hadn't finished all of the sections yet, and you went from five lanes (in your direction) down to 2 lanes (in your direction) in the span of a mile. Huge bottleneck. They eventually finished, as you can see, but I do remember that bottleneck and the abrupt transition from the wide urban freeway to a rural interstate.
When I saw that El Paso was 727 miles, It feels so weird because almost every year I take road trips to el paso to see my family. I totally recommend doing that. It takes about 7-11 hours. Suggested time is about 8 or 9 AM. Through out the trip I recommend going to a gas stop 3-5 times depending on the vehicle you rent/have. Hope this helps!
@@njam101 401 in Toronto is not only the largest and busiest freeway in the world it is the widest at 18 lanes. Without the addition of frontage and service roads the Katy is 13 lanes. Feder al highway standards in the U.S. confirm this. There are probably at least 8 other freeways in the U.S. that are as wide or wider than the Katy. There are no super-sized freeways in China either. The biggest widest and busiest badass freeway in the world is the 401 in Canada.
@@mfl8276 What is the name of this freeway? I've had a quick look but can't find anything definitive. How long is this section? When current construction is finished in Toronto, the 401 will be a minimum of 12 lanes expanding to 18 lanes at its widest on four separate carriageways. This configuration will be 63 miles in length carrying 500,000 plus vehicles daily. Nothing in the world comes even close to this magnitude. Check out Politifact Texas " Worlds widest freeway isn't where Sylvester Turner thinks it is." Also Conde nast and Buzzfeed have some interesting information.
This video is over five years old and Houston is even bigger now, if you can imagine. Driving from one side to the other can take two hours, even longer during rush hour. It seems kinda crazy seen from this distance, but it's normal when you live there. And get this: Dallas-FortWorth is even bigger.
I lived in Katy, TX for 40 years...that stretch of 1-10 I drive daily. The expansion really helped traffic flow for rush hour, but believe it or not it still gets bogged down. The multi-level bridges are only possible because we do not have many freezes in the winter. Otherwise the very high bridges would be dangerous. TX dept of transportation really does build and upgrade when necessary to meet growth and demand. When I travel in other states...I definately notice the difference. I-10 goes from Florida to California, so heavy traffic with semi's and travelers besides the locals. A fun tidbit of info - the interchange at the West Sam Houston Parkway & I-10 (first multi-level interchange on video) when that section was complete in 1992, the city had a live concert by the Bangles on top of that bridge to mark the celebration ( it was not open to traffic yet of course)
This is a freeway!!! Going to my favorites!! one of your best videos! Houston and L.A are my favorite places to ride on the freeways (through yours videos!!!).
After going to Los Angeles for vacation, I can honestly say houston traffic is nothing compared to LA traffic. Makes me appreciate houston freeways way more.
Very Impressive ! Couldn't they make a heavy subway system to replace some of the lanes? For a city this big, it is surprising to not see a decent Public Transportation system : American Style .
Standard of living over is higher compare to other states so many low income people are able to afford used cheap cars and not be reliant on a train schedule.
We are too spread out for a subway system to be effective. Houston isn't just Houston it's the woodlands, Katy, Cypress, king wood, Pearland, south Houston, downtown, galleria area, sharpstown area, greenspoint, spring, humble, etc. the list is long. It can take at least 1.5 to get from point a to point b at any given time.
Just open Google Maps and look at how far the suburbs spread around american cities. All of this traffic is people from the suburbs going on/off work to the city. A subway can never service an area this big. Plus, it's freedom land, cheap gas, cheap cars, bla bla.
Very very cool! Thanks for sharing! In Pennsylvania we typically have 4 lane highways, 2 lanes each side...you can imagine what this is like if there is an accident on a place like the Schuylkill Highway, the main artery into Philadelphia.
World biggest parking lot at 5pm.
+Steven Kirby jump in the katy lanes :) its faster than the msinlains by a far shot!
How about TOKYO's Mechanical parking system ?
You must check it out
Honolulu
Steven Kirbyville
yeah honolulu is busy like heck and traffic sucsk
I live in Houston and didn't know we had the world's widest freeway😂 and it seems pretty normal to me😂
Yeah I didn't realize either 😅 we should get a sign or something lol
Houston doesn't have the world's widest freeway. You have to go to Toronto to see the world's biggest widest and busiest freeway. Please see Politifact Texas. It explains the origin of this false claim. You will find it by entering "World's widest freeway isn't where Sylvester Turner thinks it it."
Paul Burley really dang well I’m never going to Toronto I hate the highway it’s makes me scared
Paul Burley Toronto has 24 this has 26.
OmarGaming HD tbh I live in channview and I think it’s normal 😂
That MUST'VE been a Sat or Sun because as a native Houstonian, I can honestly say there's almost always traffic. And THAT wasn't much traffic at all.
Indeed. I'm more from the northeast area, but I do occasionally go by.
Had to be early Sunday morning
Nah, if you look at 610 to the left after he's exited to go on I 10 west, you can see wall to wall cars heading south.
It was actually filmed on a Wednesday morning at 8. At the end, it says June 10, 2015 @ 8:00AM.
As a resident of Houston, you've somehow made the bane of our existence an experience to remember. Glad to see someone finding such joy in (and on) our freeways. Much props!
Thank you very much! I always enjoy driving around Houston when I get the chance (Been 3 times), it's a great city in that sense and as a roadgeek, a great "freeway experience".
@@Freewayjim Have you done the Grand Parkway Yet?
@@jaxon-t9983 No, I have not.
Houston roads=anxiety like a mf lol
Especially with all this construction
Houston freeways are fine until people with anxiety are driving on them
@@kendalbridges897 exactly...you get idiots merging into freeway traffic at 40 miles a friggen hour...when everyone is zipping down the freeway between 65 and 80....
@@kendalbridges897 bout it i know some people who dont have it and there blood pressure shoots up bad driving on h town roads
the video calls it the worlds widest freeway... Really??? I've seen wider freeways in Russia and India. The only difference, in those places it is a free-for-all and most of them don't believe in lanes and blinkers. BUT I do agree with you. Houston freeways are a anxiety nightmare ANYTIME of day and I don't think anything can fix it. lol
I didnt see a single person swerve across six lanes to hit an exit 1000 feet away with no signal. This video is fake news.
John Johnson lmao
John Johnson Aka Texas Lane Change.
Nice bait
Advance signing for lane exit is the answer.
Xius PhoneyBros he skipped 3 lanes and had turn signals
I live in Houston i thought this bridge was normal. I guess it is true we do like things big in Texas here it just seems so normal here i never would've thought otherwise
No sir, only California has things on this scale but they don't look quite the same.
PTGamer I thought all freeways lanes were that big everywhere else lol
Same, until i found out today it was the widest freeway in the world LOL
@@Tempe401 no wonder family members from out of the city or state always say it is incredibly wide lol
Also, your highways are so highly elevated than in most U.S. cities.
The greater Houston area is the size of the state of Connecticut. Car is a must. Which makes us describe distance in time frames. "Where is your house?"..."10mins that way."(rather than blocks)
And it's considered bad manners not to visit a friend if you're driving within 100 miles of them 😅
I've never used blocks in my life
@@OCC_Plumbing_and_Restorations same I think that's an East coast thing, never used blocks in the west coast or in the south
DUDE Thats CRAZY!!!
Also Houston Is The Largest City Im Tx
I actually live right there. I 10 west (katy) and Gessner exit. William brothers construction company widened I 10 to what it is today. As big as it is, the traffic is still horrible.
That's because so many people has moved to the area, with the expansion of new development in Cypress, Katy & now Fulshear is even growing like crazy. I live in the Katy area & I feel that it's time to widen Grand Parkway 99 only two lanes on each side of the highway get a little crowded during rush hours as well on the weekends.
Ha, that's cool. I live right behind the HEB off Bunker Hill
@@olivevideogames Oh yeah that's in the Memorial City area. I use to work for Memorial Hermann Hospital right there on Gessner.
I10 and Hwy 6 here
I live on mason road and I’ve lived in Katy since 2005 and personally I’m not a fan of how things have changed I remember when it was all fields but since 99 got built it’s been expanding quickly and destroying what I’ve lived with for so long and it’s unfortunate
When I graduated High School in 1967 Houston had a total population of about 400,000+. Boy that seems like a long time ago.
Did the Katy freeway exist back then.?
I read somewhere that the population of Katy is projected to hit 500K by 2027...let that sink in.
@@candysmith8724 katy "area" perhaps
@@leximakaveli Well maybe not but Katy Freeway and Beltway 8 interchange back then was the first 5-level interchange EVER I think
@Jacktown Dee sounds about right probly a little more than that
727 MILES BETWEEN TWO CITIES IN ONE STATE? ITS 730 MILES FROM MY HOMETOWN IN SC TO NYC........................
El Paso, TX and Orange, TX are 858 Miles apart on the fastest highway
144
1443
613
EXIT 726↗️ 45MPH
I have lived in many cities and Houston has the best freeways hands down!
Just not I10 west. But we still have 610, 45 and 59 sooooooo
??????? YOu gotta be kidding. 59, 288, 610 are shits
Eddie Greene 66 and 95 in the DMV area are pretty great as well
Eddie Greene
Lucky people only driving on this freeway....
After i watched this video..
Now i have another new dream..
That is driving on this freeway..
Currently driving in middle East..
I want a driving job in USA....
U have to be kidding!... It is one of the worst! Try getting to Houston from the Woodlands when I45 has an accident ... Few options exist to get out of the Woodlands other than 45. Houston has some of the worst transportation and urban planning I have ever seen
I am from Chicago and recently visited Houston Texas...the highways are wayyyy bigger than ours ..they are in the process of building more in Chicago..Texas is huge
Remember: More Lanes induce more traffic (induced demand).
Building more Lanes does help in the short term, but after a while the additional cars make it same or worse than before
"Building more lanes to fix congestion, is like getting a bigger belt to fix obesity."
Well, it's mostly the case for car dependant places, which USA and Canada outrageously are.
In the Netherlands, the A2 Amsterdam Utrecht was expanded from 2×3 to superhighway 2×5 a year (2010 vs 2011) before the Katy freeway. Still not jammed to this day. Probably even only dummy traffic using it. Trains act like countrywide metro system.
Also, having better drivers makes wideking more effective too :p
Actually you are wrong, places with the most public ridership have the longest commute times. Look it up
Crazy, I live in South East Houston, never thought about how wide and large everything is here until now. Thank you for this new perspective
Thank you for watching!
Northside Houston
This just became one of my favorite videos. I love driving on I-10 at night to music like this. Thanks for showing how beautiful Texas can be! Heading towards Austin is such a good feeling lol
Thank you for the comment and for watching!
I was listening to this music driving from El Paso TX to Memphis TN. That was a peaceful drive😊
I drive on 1-10 daily and I don’t know why i still chose to watch this 😂
In Texas, everything is supersized! Or so it seems at least. It's also amazing how quickly it turned form such a monstrosity into a rural 4-lane freeway.
Everything is supersized except the freeways inside the cities, freeways are a lot wider in L.A., San Francisco, San Diego areas
@@nowanloka4302 30 lanes across??? What the hell are you talking about?? You must take too much hallucinogens or some crap like that! Pay close attention, thats only 4 toll free lanes plus the 2 toll lanes making a total of 6 lanes on each side, and thats only on that area, the west side, the California's cities freeways are mostly 6 lanes on each side, oh, but if you want to see a wider freeway, go to Atlanta GA, both I-75 and I-85 north of loop I-285 are 8 lanes on each side each freeway, a lot wider than Houstons freeways!!
@@kwt2000trucker i believe its including the feeder roads too
TobiasM so are a lot of the people lol
Fernando Ubarr better check your facts bud. I drive in Texas and California, and Tx roads are much bigger and better. A lot of CS is a shithole
I love this stuff and if people would just really open their eyes they would see the beauty in it! I live in San Antonio and Everytime we visit htx just as we enter we're like wow! now this is a city. Thanks to all for their hard work.
100% agree! These sorts of things are so taken for granted.
It's odd living in such a big city cause I see San Antonio and think "well that's not that big, only a million" and then I remember it's one of the biggest cities in america
I always thought SA was similar to Houston then I spent a few weeks there for work and couldn't believe how small the city felt. I think Houston is like 2.5-3x the population.
what beauty?? concrete jungle who wants to life there! you americans should get out of your cars and start walking or cycling would be far better for your heatlh and reduce air polution
@@michielvdvlies3315 it's weird, all these people in the comments praising how great it is to have 26 lane roads...
love it , living in Houston it's hard to appreciate the views since it's familiarity I guess,
you've made me see the city different, which is a good thing haha
Thank you very much for the insightful comment.
م.
The ramp from Beltway 8 to I-10 W..........roller coaster ride.
Everything IS bigger in Texas! Reminds me of my nightmare drive through there last year. I remember saying, "And I thought the Atlanta Connector was wide; geez!" Just got myself in the left lane and waited for lanes to vanish.
Based on screen time (467 sec), distance (34 mi), travel time (30 min), and average speed of 68 mph, this shows what driving at an average speed of 267 mph would look like.
Not really because some parts of the video are slowed down then sped up as you can see at 1:45
@@blueberrysavers3547 averaging accounts for any slow downs. If you drive 10mph 30 minutes and 20mph 30 minutes your average is 15. If there weren't any slow downs in the video the average would be higher.
That's crazy, doesnt look like 400+ kmh
Great observation Frank. Friends from out of state ask me Why do you need an 8 cylinder twin turbo ( BMW X5M ). This explains it very simply. You need power to break away from the packs of bad drivers
Most people in Houston would have no clue how to get from Houston to Katy without I-10
@@cchmlfa I stay in the kingwood area in Houston and I use 99 to get to Katy
Moved to Houston in 89. Left in 2003. Came back and saw this in 2014... What a massive change!!! Even with massive freeways, Houston rush hour traffic is a cluster*.... For many reasons... A tribute to the fact that in the absence of Master planned commuting and zoning, these projects tends to not solve the greater problem... Houston is a world class city and the epicenter of a lot of good things not only for Texas, but the US and the world
Awesome video, thanks for the ride! 🙂 I like how it transitions from a mean, modern, urban sea of concrete to an old, rural, 4 lane freeway at the edge of the city. Feels like going back in time!
Thank you, I thought that was an interesting transition as well.
The Katy Freeway truly is the best freeway I know of
KATY PERRY
Correct
I swear
@Александр Дорохов 99 is only 2 Lanes in both directions
That freeway has the worse traffic
As a Texan these huge freeways have always seemed normal my entire life... Texas rivals Los Angeles when it comes to freeways
Houston rivals nobody when it comes to freeways
@@sharkboyjuan says the person who likes clickbait youtubers
ryen mcdonald troll
But Houston and Los Angeles have to give way to the world's widest, biggest and busiest freeway. That's the 401 through greater Toronto. Katy freeway is not nor has it ever been world's widest freeway.Check out Politifact Texas. World's widest freeway isn't where Sylvester Turner thinks it is.
In the seventies it was nice snd simple.no more.
Houstonian here! Houston is great but I have been here all my life! Time for a change!
Metra J Move somewhere like Eastern Tennessee. It's beautiful up there.
I moved from Houston to Vancouver about 14 years ago and now I wanna go back!!! I'll trade places with you!!!
L
@@irishpanic M
@@youraveragejoe2 N
I am not sure if it really counts, but back 20 years or so, it was stated that the widest highway in the US was the approach to the toll plaza in Oakland to the San Francisco Bay Bridge. It was 33 lanes including the five Eastbound lanes. I drove on it back in the 70s. There were no electronic passes at the time, but there were a few "exact change" lanes. This huge number of lanes meant there were no delays in the normal five lane westbound road. The other neat thing about it is that the toll is collected only for westbound traffic. It was fifty cents at the time.
Wow that was an amazing video thanks a ton I traveled through there a million times and I still can't get enough of driving through there from Houston to bellville back and forth lol
Thank you!
And still have huge traffic jam
Because traffic jams are caused by idiots who cannot stay off their brake pedals rather than the width of the road.
always passing by here when heading back from S.A., TX its a joyride when there is no traffic...
Awesome work on this! TxDOT blows my mind away, with some of the freeways they're able to "get away with" building, lol. Love the Dinka song you chose, and the way you synchronized everything together. I can only imagine what that reconstruction project will look like through downtown Houston, when it's all said and done. Fantastic video; I'm putting this on my "favorites" playlist.
FreewayBrent Thanks, yes what TxDOT does/gets away with is amazing! and there's all that stuff in Dallas too. Thank you for introducing me to that song many moons ago, I liked it enough to buy it and I'm glad I did.
as someone who moved to houston and has driven around the u.s., i can 100000% confirm houston is a crazy ass place to drive.
Not sure how this popped up in my feed. But it’s crazy watching someone else drive the streets I drive though daily. But on UA-cam lol 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
Thank you for watching!
Now that's what I call a freeway I love the video and nice touch with the soundtrack the soundtrack always gets me.
IMS Videos Thank you!
Distances in Texas are vast, and not just east-west. While it's 856 miles from El Paso to Orange, it's 872 miles north-south between Stratford (in the Panhandle) and Brownsville (in the Valley). It's further from El Paso to Texarkana (814mi) than from Texarkana to Chicago (784mi)!
Ahhhhh this brings back memories of trying to avoid stray mattresses and those huge wire things.... also the random hunks of tire and car material... and the “drivers”.
I remember my dad getting so fucking mad at that sight. Hilarious memories
Just missed a washing machine driving home one night back in 1977 when the Katy freeway was not as big.
The Katy Freeway is the literal definition of “Everything is bigger in Texas!”.
Nice video. I'm impressed not only with the interstate by itself but mainly because of the great video quality and the effort you made (with graphics and text) to explain all the little details of what was happening during the ride tour. It was like I was really there in the car.
I grew up in SoCal and we use the 101 to go North or South. When I moved to Houston I was amazed at the number of freeways and the amazing feeder roads in the city. Hands down way better than California’s set up. I’ll take Houston traffic over Los Angeles any day of the week.
To many houstonians the camera speed is exactly what you see when you're driving
Nice work! The architecture matches so well with the highway here.
***** Thanks, it really does.
Hey eluko I have seen your videos. They were awesome!
Baron 1999
Freewayjim I don’t think any of you really notices it, and I really don’t like being negative, but the “architecture” of the very few low-rise buildings along the way is absolutely HORRIBLE. And the very reason is the highway itself. It’s the worst urban model possible, ever. One of the main reasons for climate change in the world is these highways’ fault, i.e., the US having built its urban development during the second half of the XX century based on this spread out model of low density and wide highways. It’s also impersonal, the main reason for deaths in the US (road accidents), it doesn’t allow for social cohesion of the inhabitants, it’s classist (vs. poor people who can’t and shouldn’t have to be able to afford a car), it makes people lose too much valuable time of their lives commuting, it makes them waste money on cars and their maintenance when they could and should use mass public transit and use that money for something else, and many, MANY more negative things. There’s no beauty here. This video is gross to anyone who has the slightest idea about urban planning. All I see is one of the worst errors ever made, even negatively impacting us people living in other countries in the rest of the world, all because of the greed of a few big companies (car companies), as with almost everything US-related. Absolute trash. ❌🗑
@@rafaelzamora3357 Yeah, I'm truly amazed at how everyone is talking about how great these freeways are. I'm happy my city finally tore down a monstrosity and earthquake hazard, though unfortunately they aren't doing anything particularly useful with the right of way under it (just more car space...).
Speaking as a truck driver: The great thing about Phoenix is if you're traveling east or west on I-10 through to another city you can totally bypass it to avoid rush hour traffic by utilizing I-8 and hwy 85. And it's only about a couple of miles difference. Try that with Houston. You're pretty much screwed no matter what.
The Grand Parkway (TX-99) and Beltway 8 are supposed to act as bypasses around Houston going east-west.
@@Freewayjim True, but look at all of the miles you add to your trip by using the beltway. You'll waste just as much time going that route. Oh well, at least you're moving and not wearing out your brakes.
@@TheTallMan50 Yeah, I hear ya, pick your poison, it's that way with almost every big city/metro area.
Former Houstonian (1991-2012) and I've driven ALL of those freeways many times. Thanks for the video!
Thank you for watching!
It is true, everything IS bigger in Texas. That segment of the I-10 looks really like a piece of beauty and a delight to drive in (outside of rush hour). I haven't seen so many lanes even near a toll plaza or one of those former big border complexes on European motorways before the Schengen treaty (including the old border checkpoints on the transit roads between West and East Germany). Not even in Germany do we have that many lanes, the most we have are like eight lanes, four in each direction, max maybe 10 in front of the Elbtunnel on the A7 in Hamburg.
please "get a life"
American highways are so wide becouse they dont know how do use it efficently like europeans where the middle of the road is for passing
Yeah...rush hour..but it is big really it is.
Laur Oras I was about to say. All those damn lanes and I drive on the far right at 2 am because idiots camp in the left lane. The right lane is the only one open. People get onto the freeway and then immediately merge left across all 12 lanes into the speed lane.
@@AverageLaur It's not that we don't know how to use them, it's that we have people that are too fucking ignorant to stay out of the left lane and keep it for passing. However...with that said even if they were just 2 or 3 lanes each way ....with a city of 6 million people...3 lanes in one direction is just not enough when over 80% or so of the population commutes to work.
London is the only city in Europe that actually has more people....and of course they have a great public transport system...and most people don't work very far from home. Most of Houston works at least 10 miles from where their house, and that's probably an understatement. .
Video: Perfect👌
Sound track: Perfect👌
Remark: America truely needs mad quantities of oil.
God bless America (from Africa).
Thank you very much, lol!
Love your videos, Jim! Great job. Come back to Houston, soon. It's changed a lot (again).
Thank you very much, I'll be passing through in a couple weeks, always enjoy filming there, will get what I can.
freeway jim , you are totally amazing . i live here in houston & i'm so glad you made this video . jim you are the BEST !
I grew up in Katy. I saw the slow painful transformation it took to create this. I drove it. Every single day. For ten years. Makes me homesick honestly.
I lived near Memorial Mall back in the mid 00s, when it was just construction galore.
It's awesome to see it completed now.
I 10 & Beltway 8 @ memorial is getting full of high-rise buildings.
Nov 2020.
2019 Update: At FM 359, they're now widening it to 3 lanes (10 lanes total) until you reach Hwy. 36 in Sealy. Growth Mode!
Radm. Peso Skrew also the bucees in katy is the largest gas station in the world with over 110 pumps and was built since this video was made
That's true from Sealy to brookshire I had to stop driving that way last year because when they got into accidents at the Brazos river there were a lot of traffic there
@@jasonroberts8585 I’m around the area, not sure about largest gas station. But we do have the longest car wash
I remember my first few times driving in Houston...takes some getting used to the “shared” exit/ entrance lanes...and the height of those interchanges/overpasses!!! You feel like you are on a tall roller coaster. I used to plan my trips in order to pass through Houston very early on Sat or Sun. Lol. Now, I live in Houston and realize that Tx has the best Interstate system in the US. IMO.
It's a great network for sure, nice perspective on your part.
❤Enjoy Watching Your Traveling Videos because of The Great Music & Reading Comments Thumbs Up 👍like Video
Thank you very much!
Haven't seen my hometown like that since 2006.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching!
Texas knows how to build their stacks! Besides im from the NL, I once must travel to Houston because this road is absolutely incredible
H Hoef Yeah im from Germany and this just looks like a freeway paradise!
From Los Angeles n we don't have such good freeways like in Houston.
+H Hoef That's my home. I travel that freeway 2-3 times per week!
+HTown713 rivas TO BAD ISN'T Los Angeles Bigger than Houston
+Kellen Vargas as far as population Los Angeles have more people as far as city size no. Los Angeles is 503 square miles and Houston is 627 square miles.
I have lived here for just over 4 years now. I drove this very route today. Yes, at 5 PM this is a parking lot. But if traffic opens just a little its full Mad Max. Do not under any circumstances honk you horn or get too demonstrative in response. Everyone is armed. Other than that it's nice to take a ride.
Good advice!
Love this! The Katy Fwy reminds me of the Artesia and Riverside Freeways (CA-91) which is also known for the WORST traffic. People can’t just vibe with going fast together and staying on the surface streets if they’re not going very far
Thank you
I was born and raised in Houston and after exiting the military, I decided to stay in Germany. Last week my family and I came back from vacationing in Htown and I can tell you it was horrible driving there! It did improve after a few days, but the start was not nice. Even with the navigation system I found it strenuous having to concentrate so much. Houston has changed so much over the years and it seems like whenever we go there, there`s something different.
On a positive note, we had a ball and we are already planning the next trip for April of next year. First stop? Pappadeaux. 🙂
Back in 1973, when I got my first drivers license, my mom drove me out to Katy, had us switch places and then had me drive the Katy Freeway back to the Loop 610 interchange. She said she wanted me to legally know the feel of driving 75 before the laws went into effect mandating lower speed limits. I was doing well until we had a sudden shower around the Antoine Dr. and Bingle Rd. exits. The road began swerving and I couldn't see the bumps between the lanes so I just followed the lights of the cars in front of me. 1-10 takes you all the way from California to Florida is one of my favorite roads.
In my opinion, there is a intensity, of power and momentum, found on the Katy Freeway. I think its because of the stacks and how wide it is lol.
Or the street racers every Saturday night on there. pfft
i love ur videos i live in houston myself the katy freeway is a monster during the rush hour just like interstate 69 going to rosenburg tx it pretty bad ass driving here it like ur going on a roller coaster
Thank you!
have fam in Houston and I always know I'm close when I start seeing furniture in the road.. LOOK A COUCH!... about 15 more miles...
Thank you. I live right near the widest point and work less than 5 miles down I 10 W. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for watching!
Live in Houston and loved the video. Filmed in 2015 alot has changed since then. Its growing even bigger around 288 and the medical district. Loved the music in the video too. Nice job!
Thank you very much!
I absolutely love the music 🎶
It reminds me of Kascade from BPM Sirius XM channel 51
Thank you!
The music is amazing. Kaskade’s new album is 🔥
@@aris_mendez Thank you!
The new 610 to I10 west configuration is really nice now.
Jim, it's nice to see that I'm not weird. I found someone who loves freeways and bridges as much as I do! ! lol.....All of your videos are awesome! ! I can watch them for hours. I would be honored if you used the following song for one of your videos: "Let's Wax a Fatty" by the group Loose Ends. I'm sure you would love the song. Thanks again!
Thanks, if you want to meet more people who love this stuff you should join the FreewayJim facebook group. I don't take song requests due to the nature of how I go about finding music to fit certain footage, it is rarely something that is pre-determined.
Thanks
Great video! I live and drive in Houston all the time, but still enjoyed your drive-through. The tall bridge from I-10 eastbound onto 99 northbound is always neat to drive up, you can see all of the city!
Thank you!
living in Houston I always enjoyed my westbound commute to Katy on I 10!! i10 is so much better than the other freeways like 290. Thank you for this video, I love your appreciation for the beautiful freeway system!
Thank you very much for that, you might also enjoy this video I shot last summer in and around Houston. ua-cam.com/video/w6tiQDQxmc0/v-deo.html
Hate the traffic, love the city. Tacos are life!
During hurricane Rita world largest evacuation of people look it up. Took us 18 hours to get form the south side of Houston to the north side of Houston. True story
Oh hell yeah!!! That's my town!!!
H-Town!!! I absolutely love the driving although you do have to put up with people who are wreckles driving and excessive speeding. I know you got to go with the flow with a traffic and there are times when we are doing 85 or 90 in a formation and then Here Comes fancy sports cars motorcycles and so on probably doing twice as fast. It's no different then a person walking down the highway where the speed limit is 80 miles per hour and traffic going by passing you up. I just mind my own business watch my surroundings and anticipate anything and always have a contingency plan. I've seen too many accidents.
Razor Ramon shut up bitch . springbranch
Try 90 south between 610 and Stafford around 2 pm. Limit is 55, but if you are going under 75, you're begging to get rear ended. I've been trying to keep with the flow at about 90-100, and people are still passing me like I'm standing still. And people still walk across 8 lanes like it's some little back alley. This city crazy af.
I was born there. Glad I left.....the ugliest, hottest, most miserable place I’ve ever lived.
People here in Houston ste killed all day long.just on the roads.not counting the robberies and all the stealing.lm ftom ga ive been here i moved to Houston in1974. Have i ever seen changes.im moving to fla as soon ad i can.ive out grown houston or it has me
It doesn't matter im out of here.
We live for speed, but sometimes all that space screams speed speed speed
Everything is Bigger in TEXAS!!! I'm proud to have the widest section of freeway in the world!! I drive this exact route from I-10 West & Beltway 8(Sam Houston Toll Road) towards San Antonio every day for work. Funny thing is, this video is 5 years old & it has grown quite a bit since!! When you get to Katy, there's Bucees gas station w/100 gas pumps & the longest car wash in the world! Yes, two of the world's largest on one interstate!! Gotta Love TEXAS!!!
I always enjoy my time in Texas and Bucees is awesome!
I love the little sign graphics and comments in this video. This was just recommended to me, I'm going to watch more of your videos!
Thank you, hope you enjoy them.
Being a native Houstonian, I never considered the shear size of the city. Whenever someone visits and says "it's boring in Houston", I always think to myself "they only saw one small parcel of Houston's expanse."
@2013 Dodge Grand Caravan I guess you're right. I've never lived anywhere where you didn't need a car(i.e., New York).
All I can say is Atlanta can use a lesson in road building. Here is a prime example. We just don't have the space to build like this. Freeways in Houston are so wide open. Even Florida is improving especially in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas. Atlanta c'mon!!! Great video by the way!
Im SO in agreement we gotta stack our freeways interchanges and light our freeways up. Im patient we gotta remember texas has waaaaay mire $ than us but in due time. ... I hope
skgw2010 Atlanta is an older city than Houston so it will be very costly to widen your freeways. Better off expanding and extending MARTA.
They missed their chance with those idiotic "express lanes" on 75 from the Braves' new park. It was built at one of the worst places possible. Should've extended Marta all over instead.
Will I live in TEXAS the HOUSTON area of Pearland. The poeple in TEXAS voted for a tax bond too improve traffic. Better freeways higher taxes. We don't care don't like traffic
i wish the east would take some lessons. driving from new haven to new york city on 95 is a death trap !!!
I would get total anxiety from driving on this the first time.
I live in Houston and the way some of these people drive - I def still get anxiety 😹😅
Kevin Howard FR LIKE YOU WANTED TO DRIVE ON A FREEWAY LIKE THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME YOU KNOW I COULD BE SO ANXIOUS I WOULD JUST STAY ON THE FRONTAGE ROAD?
lol... I get anxiety just watching this video
@@melodyrose8123 i love everything about texas except for the drivers, we drive extremely aggressive for no reason lol
At the start, I love the new reconstruction of the Y interchange of I-610 TX and US 290. Vehicles can easily access to and from I-10/US 90 (It's a concurrency between Katy and the East Loop.) by taking those long ramps between the stack and Y interchanges those are next to the sides of the West Loop.
I worked in Houston living my home at 4:00 AM going all the way to Texas City Refinery. Typically, I returned home at 7pm. Average Speed was 65 MPH. I drove an Acura 3.5TL
With Big Jim and Dinka we can always be assured of a top production!
Texas hell yeah!
+Khu NoPie Thanks
I am from Madrid Spain, We have the A-2 freeway (Madrid-French Border). The road section Madrid center-Airport was built by the americans in the sixties, there are american style overpasses as well as a nice interchange... do you know its name??, The "Nudo Eisenhower" or Eisenhower Interchange!!.. Regards and great videos!!
Thank you and I'm not familiar with that.
I remember when they were still constructing it. At one point, they hadn't finished all of the sections yet, and you went from five lanes (in your direction) down to 2 lanes (in your direction) in the span of a mile. Huge bottleneck. They eventually finished, as you can see, but I do remember that bottleneck and the abrupt transition from the wide urban freeway to a rural interstate.
I love coming across these stacked interchanges! 2:57 The engineering and construction behind these is truly hard to comprehend. Great video!
Thank you very much, so do i!
When I saw that El Paso was 727 miles, It feels so weird because almost every year I take road trips to el paso to see my family.
I totally recommend doing that. It takes about 7-11 hours. Suggested time is about 8 or 9 AM. Through out the trip I recommend going to a gas stop 3-5 times depending on the vehicle you rent/have.
Hope this helps!
I've never been to Houston, I'm not from the states, and I'm not even in to road design; why did I find this video amusing
I don't know but I'm glad you did!
Cool video! I always thought the 401 in Toronto was the widest freeway in the world. I know it's the busiest.
CPWindsorsub I thought that too, but evidently 26 lanes beats out 21 lanes. I'm sure both are very impressive.
The 401 does have more traffic for sure. It also has at least 12 lanes for quite a long distance.
@@njam101 401 in Toronto is not only the largest and busiest freeway in the world it is the widest at 18 lanes. Without the addition of frontage and service roads the Katy is 13 lanes. Feder
al highway standards in the U.S. confirm this. There are probably at least 8 other freeways in the U.S. that are as wide or wider than the Katy. There are no super-sized freeways in China either. The biggest widest and busiest badass freeway in the world is the 401 in Canada.
@@paulburley7993 widest freeway in the world is in San Diego. 805/5 merger. With 26 lanes of actual freeway (no side streets) at its widest point.
@@mfl8276 What is the name of this freeway? I've had a quick look but can't find anything definitive. How long is this section? When current construction is finished in Toronto, the 401 will be a minimum of 12 lanes expanding to 18 lanes at its widest on four separate carriageways. This configuration will be 63 miles in length carrying 500,000 plus vehicles daily. Nothing in the world comes even close to this magnitude. Check out Politifact Texas " Worlds widest freeway isn't where Sylvester Turner thinks it is." Also Conde nast and Buzzfeed have some interesting information.
This is basically my commute up to the Grand Parkway. Wish it went this fast in real life!
This video is over five years old and Houston is even bigger now, if you can imagine. Driving from one side to the other can take two hours, even longer during rush hour. It seems kinda crazy seen from this distance, but it's normal when you live there. And get this: Dallas-FortWorth is even bigger.
I lived in Katy, TX for 40 years...that stretch of 1-10 I drive daily. The expansion really helped traffic flow for rush hour, but believe it or not it still gets bogged down. The multi-level bridges are only possible because we do not have many freezes in the winter. Otherwise the very high bridges would be dangerous. TX dept of transportation really does build and upgrade when necessary to meet growth and demand. When I travel in other states...I definately notice the difference. I-10 goes from Florida to California, so heavy traffic with semi's and travelers besides the locals. A fun tidbit of info - the interchange at the West Sam Houston Parkway & I-10 (first multi-level interchange on video) when that section was complete in 1992, the city had a live concert by the Bangles on top of that bridge to mark the celebration ( it was not open to traffic yet of course)
Thanks for watching and for the comment, very cool that they had a concert up on the ramp like that!
2:56 the Katy freeway BOTTLE NECK
This is a freeway!!! Going to my favorites!! one of your best videos! Houston and L.A are my favorite places to ride on the freeways (through yours videos!!!).
astey highways Thank you! yes it is quite a road indeed.
@@Freewayjim lmao Los Angeles freeways are horrible
I drive from Sugar Land to I45 / beltway 8 everyday. Crazy traffic every single day but I love my city
rafa casillas same here
that’s ridiculous 😂
After going to Los Angeles for vacation, I can honestly say houston traffic is nothing compared to LA traffic. Makes me appreciate houston freeways way more.
I agree with you, LA is much worse.
I felt like I was driving, nice music too. 👍👍👍
Thank you!
this video makes me want to re-visit Houston
We going to have a new theme park in 2018.
Willie Seals III Definitively gonna check it out
Willie Seals III is Houston safe...I wanna buy a house there....how's sugar Land??
Emeka Iheanacho Sugar land is decently safe. I've been there before and so far, no Amber alert or anything. Trains drive through Sugarland too.
Adam Ye go back to houston
There's like 20 skylines wtf
Spooder man Yeah its pretty crazy over here
Spooder man Yes, and the actual Downtown Houston skyline was never shown in this video.
Spooder man yes! I live here and the greater Houston area is very widely spread apart.
Harold81 I am in Houston i went to downtown houston
Yeah Houston is probably the largest city land wise in the country so we don't really have to build up to much. We can just build out.
Very Impressive !
Couldn't they make a heavy subway system to replace some of the lanes?
For a city this big, it is surprising to not see a decent Public Transportation system : American Style .
I think it's because houston is too spread out
Standard of living over is higher compare to other states so many low income people are able to afford used cheap cars and not be reliant on a train schedule.
We are too spread out for a subway system to be effective. Houston isn't just Houston it's the woodlands, Katy, Cypress, king wood, Pearland, south Houston, downtown, galleria area, sharpstown area, greenspoint, spring, humble, etc. the list is long. It can take at least 1.5 to get from point a to point b at any given time.
spilledgrits06 aye cypress was in your list 👌🏾
Just open Google Maps and look at how far the suburbs spread around american cities. All of this traffic is people from the suburbs going on/off work to the city. A subway can never service an area this big. Plus, it's freedom land, cheap gas, cheap cars, bla bla.
I've navigated that stretch of road twice. It's way more fun riding with you from the comfort of my bed. 😂 Great video.
LOL, thank you!
Very very cool! Thanks for sharing! In Pennsylvania we typically have 4 lane highways, 2 lanes each side...you can imagine what this is like if there is an accident on a place like the Schuylkill Highway, the main artery into Philadelphia.
Thank you, yes I've driven in PA many times, you are correct!