Top 5 Widest Highway in The World

Most of us are used to using 1,2,3 or maybe 4 lanes when driving on a highway except in certain situations like passing a toll where there are many lanes. But there are also highways out there that have one of the highest amounts of lanes in the world.

Here is the list of the top 5 widest highways in the world.

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5. Interstate 75, United States of America (16 Lanes)

The Interstate 75 highway, also known as i-75 connects several states in the United States of America and goes from Florida all the way to Michigan by passing through 6 different states. This wide highway was opened in 1957 with a total distance of 2875 km. 

There is one road which is located in Marietta city that has 15 lanes. Whereas in one part of Atlanta and the 12.8km distance, the lane is further increased into 16 lanes, the biggest number of lanes.

The highway was constructed in stages and it took nearly 20 years to finish by which the last phase was completed in 1973. To this day, i-75 has become an iconic history of the United States of America since many tourist sites start to show up along the highway. 

If you really want to enjoy the journey, then it is suggested that you spend at least 2 to 3 days visiting various historic location that has still been preserved to this date.

4. New Jersey Turnpike, United States of America (18 Lanes)

This is considered one of the highways that set an example for many countries to build their own high-speed highway. New Jersey Turnpike is one historical pathway that was opened back in 1951 with a distance of 188 km altogether.

Not all the location along the highway has many lanes as the majority of them only have 4 to 6 lanes. However, there are some parts of the highway which are quite busy with 12 to 14 lanes. But along the 14 and 15E, the number of lanes increases to 18, making it the 4th widest in the world.

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The unique thing about the management of this highway is that it is not under the specific supervision of any government whether it is the federal or state government. The system of this highway is regulated by The Turnpike Authority which is considered neutral.

The body also has its own police patrol of as many as 200 people to ensure the safety of highway users. 

3. King Highway 401, Canada (18 lanes)

Having a distance of 828km along this highway, it is considered the busiest highway in Canada which connects Windsor from the West all the way to Ontario-Quebec on the east side. This highway was opened in 1953 starting with only two lanes along the way, but the Canadian government decided to add up more lanes due to its high usage.

In 1963, the lanes were increased to 12 at certain locations where it was very busy. One part of the highway which is very hectic will be near the Toronto Pearson International Airport. At this part of the highway, the Canadian government adds another 6 lanes to ease the traffic.

This made that part of the highway have 18 lanes, making it the 3rd widest highway in the world. But the situation still does not improve despite adding more lanes.

2. Naypyidaw Highway, Myanmar (20 lanes)

The Myanmar government has tried very hard to develop Naypyidaw to become the country's main administration center but things did go as planned. They were unable to figure out how to occupy the new city with residents.

One of the big efforts done by the government was to build a highway that has 20 lanes to connect the parliament building with the main city.

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If all of the highways on this list were to be built in order to ease the traffic jam, then the Naypyidaw highway that was open will be the very few highways that have many lanes to be used but are filled with emptiness.

1. Interstate 10, United States of America (26 lanes)

The official name for this highway will be Interstate 10 or i-10 or some might call it Katy Freeway. It was built in the 1960s and at the start, this highway only has 6 to 8 lanes before the plan to expand it even more so that it will have the capacity of 200,000 vehicles in one day. This resulted in the addition of another 8 lanes making it 16.

To help smooth the traffic, several lanes were further added with the status of the special lane in early 2000. In the current version after the expansion was fully completed, i-10 has a distance of 1,412 km across Texas having 12 main lanes.

Things were not as expected since this change did not give the effect that they were hoping for. The time taken for every driver to pass by became even longer which shows that making more lanes will even slow the traffic.

So it seems that it has been proven that making the highway even wider by increasing the number of lanes does not help hasten the time of the journey. In a nutshell, more lanes simply mean more congestion.

Source:

• City Observatory
• Car and Driver
• AA Roads
• CAA

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