I was skim-reading USA Today last night while waiting on dinner at my Paris hotel, and one particular story caught my eye. It led with a headline about Phoenix embarking on a project to widen the Interstate 10 highway from 14 lanes to 24. Yes, 24. That's 12 each way.
In the UK, I think the widest motorway is 10 lanes - the M25 Heathrow stretch to the West of London - it lasts for maybe 10 miles. Comprehending a highway that is 2.5 times as wide is amazing to me!
But it seems this is becoming more common in the US. The article goes on to talk about some other significant developments:
An interstate highway wider than the length of a football field is not as rare as it was 10 years ago, when the El Toro interchange of Interstates 5 and 405 in Orange County, Calif., opened with 26 lanes.
The Katy Freeway, a stretch of I-10 from the Houston suburb of Katy to downtown. It's being widened to nine lanes in each direction.
A public-private plan to widen a stretch of Interstate 75 north of Atlanta to 23 lanes. Work could begin in 2008.
Incredible! Read the USA Today article here.