The BIGGEST Roads In North America

Big roads are a big talking point in modern transport discourse, but
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[@user-hm1zb8js5i]

There was a highway in China that got backed up for over a week once. Vendors were literally offering food to people while they were waiting in their cars.

[@kelvinpang438]

Yes, that was due to everyone in china driving back to their hometowns for chinese new year, it lasted over 10 days.

[@michaelsurratt1864]

Yeah I saw that it was sad the vendors were taking advantage of people by charging 10 times as much normal

[@rogink]

@@michaelsurratt1864 Isn't that just capitalism with Chinese characteristics?

[@NotFine]

​@@roginkno, just capitalism lol

[@rogink]

@@NotFine whoosh!

[@user-hm1zb8js5i]

The roads in Houston are absolutely insane. It is not uncommon for people to cross six-lane intersections on their way to work.

[@lazygongfarmer2044]

No he means 6 lane streets... The highways are like 20 lanes

[@thegreenguy5555]

I feel like what you're missing with your idea of having different places for "car people" and "transit people" is that cars and public transport aren't mutually exclusive. You can still have a good (perhaps even better) driving experience while still allowing people to get around without a car.

[@tutacat]

In fact, the places with the the best transit, can have the best roads too. Netherlands is a perfect example. Stroads are illegal, much less congestion (due to transit). Roads are well designed and traffic lights are smarter.

[@lars7935]

Tokyo has a massive car scene. It's also one of the cities with the best transit worldwide and great walkability.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Two other interesting North American roads from an engineering perspective are the Lincoln Tunnel Helix and Holland Tunnel. The Helix was built in 1937 and it is an oval-shaped 270-degree loop between the Palisades cliffs and the tunnel’s toll plaza on the NJ side of the Hudson River. The Helix was built in order to connect a highway at the top of the Palisades to the portals at the bottom, and to put things into perspective, are about 300 feet (90 m) high at Weehawken where the tunnel is! They originally thought about building a tunnel, but they realized it wasn't feasible and would disrupt the urban landscape above. They also had to make room for the toll plaza and merging lanes, hence why the Helix is absolutely an engineering feat. The Holland Tunnel on the other hand goes between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan. You might be thinking "Oh they named it the Holland Tunnel to honor the region's Dutch roots", right? WRONG! It was named after Clifford Milburn Holland, a civil engineer who oversaw the construction of a number of subway and automobile tunnels in NYC, including the Holland Tunnel. Construction began in 1922, and Holland designed four ventilation shafts that would bring 3,500,000 cubic feet of fresh air into the tunnel every minute. Unfortunately, all the stress from it led to him dying from a heart attack in 1924, so he didn't get to see it completed in 1927. After he died, Milton Harvey Freeman and lastly Ole Singstad oversaw the tunnel's completion. Ole designed its ventilation system, making it the world's first mechanically ventilated tunnel!

[@rogink]

My first - and only - trip to NYC was from New Jersey. I'm pretty sure it was through the Lincoln tunnel - named after the city with one of the original copies of the Magna Carta, I'd guess. After a few minutes of quiet we emerged into what I can only describe as a cacophony. Like dialling up the volume from 0 to 100!

[@jasertio]

You should definitely come to Brasília someday. I was born and raised in this city and it is an interesting one. There's no other city in the country like it. If you take a look at its design, it is purposefully shaped to look like an airplane, and certain neighborhoods carry names in this sense, for example Asa Sul (South Wing) and Asa Norte (North Wing). The monumental axis makes up what would be the "body" of the airplane.

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

Did the architect who designed the city layout have a secret passion for Airplanes lmao

[@jasertio]

@GwainSagaFanChannel apparently so, lol. His name is Lúcio Costa, there's a pretty good Wiki article on him.

[@jakel8627]

Brasila needs to accept Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil, South America, Latin America, Portugal, and Mozambique. I watched City of God. Rio is the capital plain and simple. Brasilia is just a socialist invention. Rio is capital forever 🇧🇷

[@EdBball99]

I know it was an off-the-cuff remark, but downtown Chicago is actually one of the most transit-friendly places in the US someone could live. Look into the Chicago "L" train system sometime. When I spent a year living in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago (just north of downtown), maybe like once per week I needed to actually use my car if I needed to be on the other side of town in a hurry or go somewhere that the trains didn't reach. Not meant as a gotcha comment, just FYI!

[@tutacat]

It is just funny that Chicago and new york have so much space dedicated to cars, when doingg so increases the number of cars trying to use it (bottleneck).

[@carydagostino]

I believe you forgot to actually finish and left out the 6er.

[@nullinullinullifi]

when andrew says "goodbye!" but the video lasts for another minute literally the best please do more random tangents after the end of videos

[@yotoronto12]

Correction: Highway 407 is a toll highway that was privatized which has far fewer people use than most highways in Canada given how expensive it is to use. Because Highway 401 is the only major highway between Detroit and Quebec in addition to serving local traffic and there is a lack of alternate routes, it explains the use of express lanes and collector lanes as well as its being the busiest in North America.

[@thesuomi8550]

Build some bloody rail

[@cybhunter007]

As a curiosity, how does 401 compare to the New Jersey turnpike/ I-95 between the Pa Turnpike Extension and the GW bridge? It would be an interesting compare and contrast

[@PotatoToon]

Americans with their Katy Freeway and Canadians with their 401 in Toronto have always been fighting over who has the biggest one.

[@amistry605]

Goose Island is where the beer comes from lol

[@shorv]

Highway 407, the "alternative" to the north of Highway 401, is one of the most expensive nonbridge or tunnel toll roads in the world. It costs about $80 CAD to drive its length, and checking the travel times right now from the start to the end, it's 1h20m taking the 407 and 1h39m taking alternate toll free routes. The 407 is so expensive that I've never driven on it, despite living between the 401 and 407.

[@blakem2902]

$80 cad! (Or $59.49 usd) for one highway! Wow

[@pingpong3311]

Because the 407 is owned by a private company.

[@MeiraV-]

Regionalism re: something you said in minute 16: it's never the "washington bridge", it's George Washington Bridge or GW Bridge. I've been busy, it's good to see you Mr Cat.

[@rogink]

There is a section of the M62 on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border where it diverts around a farm. I wouldn't be surprised if this was wider than the street in Brasilia.

[@cgillespie78]

There is a 20 lane road in Myanmar's new capital Naypyidaw, presumably for military parades. It is over 250 ft wide for almost 2 miles

[@sams3015]

Great video, I’ve always been fascinated by transit and roads (lol I still play simcity 4). I love transit KZbin but the constant “highways trigger me” attitude gets old fast. Yes, we don’t need crazy ones in city centres or half a dozen lanes but sometimes you need roads dude. Like the face drop & snark when they see any road anywhere is annoying. Not everyone wants to or can ride bikes all day or wants to live in high density areas. Also drove on George Washington bridge back in April when visiting the US, it’s insane going on and off it

[@JRudy17]

The George Washington Bridge was opened in 1931 before there was much of the development in that area. We shouldn't assume the bridges and highways were squeezed into the middle densely populated area, but rather the highway prompt the new development

[@cycorythm]

The 90/94 & 290 interchange in Chicago, aka Jane Byrne Interchange, is always a mess and seems like it's been under construction for 20 years! But it gets the job done, I drove thru there twice today for work.

[@SilvanaDil]

The Los Angeles area people are going to be mad at you for doing a video on this topic and ignoring them.

[@Cha0zK1n9]

Hey Toycat, the second West East highway in Toronto, the 407 actually has tolls so it doesn’t really help the traffic a super lot. Too many people live in the suburbs and go to downtown Toronto or midtown Toronto to work like myself. The 407 also has a very interesting tolling system and it is automatic with different cost per kilometre depending on the day and what section of the highway. The busier time and busier section, the greater cost per kilometre. We are also working on east west direction subway line extension projects so you can imagine what that does to the local roads too 💀

[@lazygongfarmer2044]

If they would just lift the tolls for either truck or car traffic, things would be so much better

[@sohopedeco]

Brasília was a city designed so much for the car that literaly all the streets within the city are considered highways. You can't drive with your headlights off in Brasília because of that. The Monumental Axis feels more like a square than a road, because you actualy can walk around on that large patch of grass. That's a place where people usualy go to protest stuff.

[@clearsky4455]

Katy freeway is 26 lanes a bit closer in to town from the area you zoomed in on and I believe is the widest in terms of lanes. 401 is also crazy (I drive on both of these regularly).. Both deserve the mention.

[@ibx2cat]

how do you drive on both a Texan and Canadian highway regularly lol

[@clearsky4455]

@@ibx2cat Inherent death wish?🤷‍♂

[@terryomalley1974]

​@@ibx2catmaybe he drives a transport truck (semi)?

[@amistry605]

Being from Chicago and driving on those highways is hell...😂 They get sooo confusing.

[@chitlitlah]

I've been working away from home for a few months now, so it's nice of him to remind me about it by talking about the High Five and the Mixmaster. The top level of the High Five is like a roller coaster where you climb until you can see across most of Dallas and then there's a downhill part that seems like it'll never end, and there's nothing but a short concrete barricade keeping you on the narrow roadway... Well, it wasn't enough to keep a few people on it.

[@abcdtemp]

10:30 RCE would be proud

[@midcenturymoldy]

When I saw the title I immediately thought to myself, “He’s going to trash Houston.” What a refreshing change of pace it is that you didn’t!

[@LordMelbury1953]

Take a look at the highways freeways roads in the Lower Mainland Canada. Some Vancouver houses costs more than celebrity mansions in LA. Blame it on the roads. 😮

[@2polartv319]

you should check out where 805 and 5 and 56 freeway meet in san diego, ay its widest part i think its 22 lanes edit: 24 lanes at its widest, but its 8 lanes are bypass, they are pretty much extra lanes for the freeway though

[@vacantile]

Katy freeway! Only time my city will ever be mentioned on this channel

[@marcusoppong1024]

Occasionally, Japan also has very bizarre intersections, especially since Japan is very mountainous. I saw one example and was baffled why some countries construct these like that. At least in my country, they're built very simple, most commonly in clover or diamond shapes. You have to drive significantly slower when taking them but it saves so much space. On the other hand, we usually don't build highways straight through neighbourhoods.

[@tutacat]

You have to drive slower on roundabouts too, but you get continuous traffic. They are all better than intersections in most cases though.

[@tutacat]

The interstste highway project is a very interesting project created by car companies but also being racist and inconvenient.

[@lars7935]

Most intersections in Japan are also pretty compact. It's just that it get's complicated with some of the geography.

[@schulo_]

I live 20 minutes from the first highway interchange you showed. Driving it is nuts

[@chitlitlah]

I remember about a decade ago hearing about a biker that got knocked off the top of the High Five. He had several seconds to think about how screwed he was. I rode over it several times myself but was always pretty careful on the two-wheeler.

[@josieschultz4241]

im from chicago and before he even started talking i knew he was gonna be confused about our situation

[@CharlesMacphee]

I think that you need a bit of context about the 401 in Toronto. at its center are express lanes with collector lanes on the outer sides. Since this highway runs from the US border at Windsor to the Quebec it is the busiest highway in North America. Highway 407 was built as a bypass toll road to the north. Combined these highways travel trough the largest population area in Canada.

[@lzbscalle7943]

wow, highways are really cool! we should make a statue for the one who came up with the idea

[@terryomalley1974]

The volume of traffic on highway 401 through the Greater Toronto Area is the highest of any expressway in North America.

[@chrisg8680]

There's a famous chicago brewery on Goose Island called Goose Island, only reason I knew it existed 😂. Also milwaukee has a pretty crazy interchange, it's one of the most iconic ones in the US. thanks for the shout out to wisconsin dells, fun fact it has the most waterparks both indoor and outdoor per capita in the world. Weird wisconsin claim to fame.

[@blueptconvertible]

I've driven the 401 through Toronto, it's wild.

[@emifro]

A "people road" is called a "footpath"😆

[@larrynash7534]

wisconsin dells is the waterpark capital of the world

[@embee965]

8:35 a path toycat, a path

[@EMUBEAR1]

Downtown of a city (zooms into Milwaukee). Unfortunately our transit is lacking even close to downtown. Most people I know drives everywhere. The busses are actually decent for some locations. I do that, but also Uber.

[@rcat777]

15:05 the x and y axis labels are switched

[@ashwynwadhawan7908]

the ironic thing is that improving public transport and cycling infrastructure directly improves the quality of driving because there are less drivers and therefore less traffic, making driving quicker, more enjoyable and much safer

[@jjerg]

I just drove through the Byrne Interchange in Chicago during rush hour this morning visiting my city of birth. This mess has been the stuff of traffic nightmares for decades. That's why I never got my driver's license until my 30s, when I decided to move from my native city.

[@Mattythebassist_]

Just looked at this thumbnail after watching a Real Civil Energenier video and thought “ah yes the stack”. It’s actually not a bad option. It’s expensive but effective.

[@ryandoesstuffapparently1540]

“This tiny, tiny city has a metro, only 240,000” Me in a city with a population of 6700…

[@crashingdown6924]

Life in the big city

[@zoutepindas6128]

yeah but it's tiny for a city with a metro

[@Toyota--Camry]

I knew for a fact the High Five was gonna be there. My mom worked in an office building right next to it as it was getting built. It’s a strange feat of engineering, but then again Dallas is just a spaghetti pile of highways

[@squirrel8208]

Road

[@Frogboyaidan]

Roads

[@howdyhamster]

It's not a wide highway, but if you want to see a complicated interchange, search for the Annai Bridge in Tokyo. Toll tunnel, freeway tunnel, and national route all meet in a valley.

[@JRudy17]

You had a couple of references to land values near highways. But you neglect to mention that the highways were designed over 50 years ago before those tall buildings were even built. It's the chicken and egg argument. Did the placement of the highway create the demand for development of commercial space. Kind of like the railroad did 100 years before the interstate system.

[@werpification]

4:27 I also just visited Québec and roads were pretty much like the US, but the Montréal YUL airport bottleneck was something else🫥

[@benckx8999]

14:38 where JFK was killed :O

[@arkaig1]

Widest road? US-9W & US-9E in New York, on either side of the Hudson River?

[@vesman81]

Andrews 4th channel is just black screens with white text and the awful tiktok AI voice reading reviews of kebabs and McDonalds from around the world

[@gotham61]

The intersection of the M4 and the M5 north of Bristol is pretty amazing.

[@Thatclimbingirl]

It is and I’m a local that uses it regularly and it’s mind blowing every time.

[@Immortalcheese]

I drive the 401 constantly... It's a deathtrap

[@pyropulseIXXI]

Roads are cool

[@MrFrazierCampbell]

Isn’t the worlds widest road in nappiydaw in Burma?

[@parkmannate4154]

I was just in Montreal a month ago. Ja'tieme

[@hosealumadi5869]

Please checkout highway interchanges in the Johannesburg ring road and around the airport 🇿🇦

[@marym7104]

Within 15 hours!

[@oneoftheordinary]

large highways in cities arent built for the city residents, theyre built for suburbanites

[@BenFletcher1984]

We have a cloverleaf junction in redditch uk

[@robertwalsh1436]

Could learn alot from the Netherlands

[@appa609]

if the people who want to pay low taxes all left then there would be nobody left to pay taxes. Taxes are a wealth pump.

[@TheTroyc1982]

The 401 is the busiest highway in the world

[@kevincronk7981]

I know you guys in the UK love roundabouts, I'm American and most of us really hate them (at least partially because we don't know how they work or enough other people don't know that they don't work well) but I recently moved to college and I've been walking a lot since I got here and for some weird reason there are a ton of roundabouts on the trails for bikes/people walking. I don't get why that's needed, they aren't high volume and you're not moving very quickly. Also I find it funny that you can tell no one uses them by the paths carved through the middle of every one by people just walking straight through

[@lazygongfarmer2044]

Roundabouts are bad for walking

[@tutacat]

Roundabouts don't make the design bad, the designers do. Plus car-centric areas push everyone else into the gutters, while taking up much more space.

[@kevincronk7981]

@lazygongfarmer2044 exactly, that's why i don't get it. And clearly the nikers don't like them so much they simply ride over them.

[@kevincronk7981]

@@tutacat no, putting a roundabout on a bike and pedestrian trail is just bad design. They make sense for cars, not bikes and hikers.

[@lazygongfarmer2044]

@@kevincronk7981 Yeah. Roundabouts have their place, they are great for the crossroads of 3 or more streets, but putting them in the place of a standard, 2 street intersection is a waste of space and is slower to get through for everyone

[@ar-zq7si]

8:34 It is called a path. Not a "people road".

[@clawscrab3497]

There's a hotel on a freeway exit not far from where I live.

[@skateruwu]

I drive 75 to 635 everyday i go to work. Feels A LOT less special when you have to deal with driving on it. That road gets backed up so fucking bad it can add a whole 45 minutes to a 40 minute drive with no traffic

[@evanmagill9114]

I think Brasilia looks more like Iowa than Pennsylvania.

[@jlpack62]

The highway through the center of Chicago is not for the people who live there. it's for the people who live in the suburbs who want larger houses, more land, and lower taxes, and then they want the city to accommodate their car: as cheaply as possible of course.

[@awwastor]

I don't think anyboddy who has actually though out their opinion wants to take away the cars of people living in rural alabama lol. It's just a lot (most?) people live in cities, public transport is much more economic and pleasant live along with and it is so much more ecological it's kind of funny (though car-less cities probably won't be a thing ever or for a very long time because disability issues and supply issues).

[@mcb187]

There are actually 3 places where there are 6 levels of roadway, although one shouldn’t count as technically the second level is a footbridge (you showed this one in the video). The other 2 are in Texas, both on Dallas, actually. One is along I-35E at I-635, where because of a recent project to build HOV/Express lanes, there are 6 levels. The other is just north of it, on I-35E at TX-121, where the interchange was only partially built initially, and when it was expanded, the newly built ramp went over the already existing 4th and 5th level ramps, making it a true 6-level interchange.

[@HarryScott673]

u must like canadian goose

[@HarryScott673]

also government dumps a huge amount of money into roads when the are inserting money into the economy because they are lazy. if they built trains instead it would be much more eficeint faster better for the enviroment ect.

[@Konozco]

6 levels highway hmmm… my guess is egypt

[@LewisHillier88]

Has anyone ever told you that you look like a young Otto Witt from the film Zulu?

[@zartex6458]

“If u wanna live somewhere where u can drive ur car, don’t live in god damn downtown Chicago” that’s like half of urbanism. Don’t waste cities by putting massive roads for car drivers other wise just live Smwhere else

[@skandwyrm]

Nah, the Federal District looks more like Iowa

[@peterjuncker8488]

IK you're memeing but if everyone just divided up based on their own perceived interests we would just find more ways to divide.

[@brapamaldi7666]

people only hated on the hyperloop because it was vapourware and infeasible. the only thing real about it was the hype

[@Pamani_]

As far as I know the widest highway is in the new capital of Egypt. 31 lanes and 160m wide, going nowhere. coords(29.90646, 31.68625) Edit: there are other sections around there that may have more lanes. Plus they seem to be widening it constantly smh...

[@flaviotmz5]

The axes are inverted in your graph about cost and number of journeys. 2nd channel don't care

[@wadawads]

Myanmar wide road

[@danmarsh5949]

Fun fact: The Guinness Book of World Records, was actually the same people as Guinness Brewery. Their beer salesmen had a book specifically to settle bar bets. They don't own the record book anymore, but it's weird to me that they ever did.

[@camdenharper7244]

As someone from the US, this all just looks normal

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

As someone from the Netherlands I agree Dutch roads use a mix of German British and American models

[@marym7104]

6,620th views of this video!

[@uppets3163]

Hello im your realta so there is this this hightway i got it lets build a hotel smack dab in the middle

[@SilvanaDil]

Canada has a horrendous road system -- far too few miles of roads, and away from places like Toronto, the *one* transcontinental highway might as well be a country lane.

[@terryomalley1974]

Just shut the hell up! No matter what the topic is, if it involves Canada, you're always negative. What's your damn problem with Canada, anyways?

[@JL1]

It's time us Americans start investing in reliable, constant public transport and walking/cycling paths in urban areas

[@pyropulseIXXI]

roads and cars are superior

[@JL1]

@@pyropulseIXXI says no one

[@KanyeTheGayFish69]

@@JL1most people in America prefer cars and driving rather than having to share a dirty train or bus with many different people.

[@JL1]

@@KanyeTheGayFish69 because nobody is doing it right in America, 800 billion goes to roads and highways while 66 billion goes to trains.

[@lzbscalle7943]

i really like how hellish american cities look in general lol

[@lazygongfarmer2044]

No, American cities are pretty great actually, why else would millions from around the world move there every year. Yeah, sure, some of them are too car-centric, but others have a great balance of good public transit and driveability

[@KanyeTheGayFish69]

They aren’t though

[@Bhembca]

‘People roads’ are ‘Pathways’! Also your crazy idea of segregation does not work, we know this. People have to live together, that’s why all of us must contribute to common infrastructure and capital expenses. PS: I’ve been to Brasilia, things are incredibly spaced out for the utopian city that never became.

[@Saffy1]

7:05 Doesn't Beijing have 50 lane highway or something

[@lp-w420]

only for a couple hundred meters, since it widens to 50 lanes as it approaches a toll booth

[@luisalejandrodiez]

That one abandoned city in Myanmar has a really wide road and not by technicality

[@waspsandwich6548]

lol it's not abandoned it's overbuilt because nobody wanted to move to the newly built city quick enough so it looks abandomed

[@luisalejandrodiez]

@@waspsandwich6548 figured it was something like that couldn’t really remember

[@azeria1]

America is way to big for public transport to be reliable everywhere but all main city areas and big surrounding towns should have trains and buses with trains letting to go most areas within your state

[@professorsaltshaker3168]

Yeah but…have you ever heard of India or china…or seen our rail coverage 100 years ago? Look up old rail maps from your own area, you might be surprised how much rail we used to have. Our lack of public transport today has to do with people needing/preferring cars.

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

My friend you heard of the netherlands? It has similar roads and is also able to have roads used by buses for public transport.

[@swyjix]

Sorry but these comments entirely miss the point. Trains are neither very convenient or cost effective unless they are outrageously expensive or use government subsidies. The Netherlands is a very small country compared to the U.S. and has sooo much less rural land than the U.S. You cannot tell me that the wilderness of Friesland is in anyway analogous to even Maine, much less Wyoming, Montana, or Alaska.

[@professorsaltshaker3168]

@@swyjix you’re right, it’s not, we have probably the most wild nature of any developed nation-but most of us don’t live in Maine or Wyoming or Kansas! Even then, these rural areas get easy access to our amazing highway system, and were already served by trains in the past. The difference is we used to have railroads lobbying congress, now we have auto/oil companies lobbying them, so less stuff gets done. And as a whole, we (the US) are a nation of excess, so we drive cars, even though we don’t need to.

[@KanyeTheGayFish69]

@@professorsaltshaker3168those countries have significantly higher population densities

[@FSMDog]

Cities designed for cars....Highlights the futility See 'induced demand'

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

There used to be a lot of railway infrastructure but with introduction of cars they removed a lot of railway and replaced it with car roads

[@lazygongfarmer2044]

Fun drinking game: take a drink everytime an "urbanist" misuses the term 'induced demand'

[@youabsolutelegend1265]

third channel, don't care

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

I prefer this channel more than the other channels lmao

[@Pleezath]

Horrendous design

[@Twisted_Logic]

I'm not against public transit. It just drives me crazy when people treat it as a one size fits all solution to transportation, because surely a town of 200 can afford a rail line to the neighboring town of 12k 50km away

[@gabrielkocherovsky9284]

First!

[@user-hm1zb8js5i]

No, I was first.