Beltways That Work, and Beltways that Don't

[Bickendan]

I-205 is largely very good at doing its job, despite being longer than taking I-5 from Tualatin to Salmon Creek or to Troutdale or Camas.

[DTComposer]

I-405 in CA is the classic beltway that doesn't work. Portions of it that weren't as developed when the freeway was originally built were subsumed by the LA metro area's explosive development, and it's not a viable bypass of anything.

I-405 bypasses downtown Los Angeles, especially the East LA Interchange, which can be congested even on Sundays

In 25 years of going between Long Beach and the Bay Area, it's a crap shoot on whether I-405 or I-710/I-5 was the better bet. Sometimes it had to do with time of day, but honestly there was an equal chance of traffic on I-405 around LAX or the Sepulveda Pass as there was on I-5 downtown. Heck, there were more than a few times when I-5/CA-170/US-101/I-5 was the preferred route.

The same story on the northern "bypass" - sometimes I-210 to I-605 is better, sometimes just staying on I-5 is better. Usually, neither is great.

[Flint1979]

In Detroit neither I-275 or I-696 do a good job bypassing the city. US-23 does the best job of it bypassing I-75 starting in Perrysburg, Ohio and going all the way to Flint.

[webny99]

^ Well, I-275 would be great if it was complete...

[Flint1979]

^ Well, I-275 would be great if it was complete...

Yeah that won't happen now though since there is too much in the way. It would have been nice.

[CtrlAltDel]

I-610 in Houston definitely worked in the past, but similarly to I-285 in Atlanta and I-405 in LA, massive development has sprung up around it and traffic and construction are perennial problems, so it's not super effective (especially the West Loop). Luckily, Houston has two other beltways that you can use if 610 is having issues. I personally think Beltway 8 is the most effective of the three (for me at least), but it is tolled and can have traffic problems depending on the time. The Grand Parkway is out of the way and is not a complete loop but has (relatively) little traffic for Houston.

The moral of the story is any of the 3 beltways can work effectively depending on the situation, but check the construction status and traffic before picking which one to use.

I was thinking that Houston has sprawled out so much that the beltways don't seem to make a difference anymore. Grand Parkway doesn't look like it would save much time for traffic trying to go straight through the city. Much like Atlanta or LA, it seems like there aren't any good choices.

For the record, here are the travel times and distances lateish rush hour yesterday evening from a point on I-10 just west of TX-99 near Katy to a point on I-10 just east of TX-99 near Mont Belvieu:

I-10 straight through
1:13
62.6

I-610 north branch
1:24
64.9

I-610 south branch
1:35
73.9

TX-8 north branch
1:41
80.8

TX-8 south branch
1:34
81.4

TX-99 north branch
1:35
97.0

As you can see, the travel times don't vary all that much while the distances do, but all the same going straight through on I-10 is the fastest.