What if These Five Cities Had Houston's Beltway 8?

Our loop freeway system has its origins in a City of Houston Planning Department planning report from the 1950s. Ten years later, it was an official project taken up by Harris County.

It’s been through a lot of ups and downs, but generally Beltway 8 is how we get around our massive Houston. Someone passed us a link to a series of maps that placed our 83.13-mile beltway on top of other major metropolitan areas. The results are pretty interesting and give you an idea of just how large our area really is.

The map compares Houston’s area with those of London, Honolulu, Paris, San Francisco and New York City.

5.) London

This actually looks quite familiar, especially the way the River Thames cuts through the Beltway like that.

4.) Honolulu

This is scary. Hawaii isn’t built for superhighways; besides, we’d drown if we took the Beltway all the way around.

3.) Paris

Paris could use a Beltway. We’re sure all those Parisian city workers need a way to get out to the suburbs. We just hope they have decent lane-changing skills.

2.) San Francisco

Obviously the Beltway wouldn’t work too well if you stuck it right on top of the bay. If cars could safely float on water, this would be the best city to put this type of highway system. It brings Silicon Valley just a little closer together.

1.) New York City

We like how this is giving you all five boroughs, including a big chunk of New Jersey. Who can afford those big-city real estate prices? This is lacking only a few bridges connecting to Queens, but it looks great — another busy highway for the bridge and tunnel crowd.

Thank to Brian Zygo for sharing this.