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57-917: Beltway 8 ( BW8 ), the Sam Houston Parkway , along with the Sam Houston Tollway , is an 88-mile (142 km) beltway around the city of Houston, Texas , United States, lying entirely within Harris County . Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), runs mostly along the frontage roads of the tollway, only using the main lanes where they are free: between Interstate 45 (I-45, North Freeway ) and Interstate 69 / US Highway 59 (I-69/US 59, Eastex Freeway ); and between US 90 (Crosby Freeway) and I-10 ( Baytown-East Freeway ). The main lanes elsewhere are

114-413: A city or town, with the standard of road being anything from an ordinary city street up to motorway level. An excellent example of this is London's North Circular/South Circular ring roads, which are largely made up of (mainly congested) ordinary city streets. In some cases, a circumferential route is formed by the combination of a major through highway and a similar-quality loop route that extends out from

171-669: A complete belt road around Hawaii Island . Other major U.S. cities with such a beltway superhighway: There are other U.S. superhighway beltway systems that consist of multiple routes that require multiple interchanges and thus do not provide true ring routes. Two designated examples are the Capital Beltway around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania using Interstate 81 , Interstate 83 , and Pennsylvania Route 581 and "The Bypass" around South Bend, Indiana using Interstate 80 , Interstate 90 , U.S. Route 31 , and Indiana State Road 331 . Edmonton , Alberta, has two ring roads. The first

228-471: A ring road or ring road system: In Iceland , there is a 1,332 km ring road, called the ring road (or Route 1), around most of the island (excluding only the remote Westfjords ). Most of the country's settlements are on or near this road. Major cities that are served by a ring road or ring road system: Texas State Highway 8 SH 8 was one of the original twenty five state highways on June 21, 1917, proposed as an 'East Texas Highway.' In 1919

285-563: A spur from SH 8 to Gary . This highway was erroneously omitted from the March 19, 1930 log, so was unnumbered that day. On November 30, 1932, the former SH 8A was added to the highway log, but was renumbered as SH 181 . Another SH 8A had been planned from SH 8 in Horton to SH 64 on January 11, 1927. This was eliminated shortly after designation. SH 8B was a spur route designated on May 21, 1923 from Buna to Orange. On August 21, 1923, this

342-528: A through-the-city route there, with the Beltway encircling the city as I-495. The portion of I-95 entering the city from the south was soon completed (and so signed), primarily by adapting an existing major highway, but the planned extension of I-95 through residential areas northward to the Beltway was long delayed, and eventually abandoned, leaving the eastern portion of the Beltway as the best Interstate-quality route for through traffic. This eastern portion of

399-634: A town or city, typically without either signals or road or railroad crossings. In the United States, beltways are commonly parts of the Interstate Highway System. Similar roads in the United Kingdom are often called "orbital motorways". Although the terms "ring road" and "orbital motorway" are sometimes used interchangeably, "ring road" often indicates a circumferential route formed from one or more existing roads within

456-532: A true ring road around Detroit is effectively blocked by its location on the border with Canada and the Detroit River ; although constructing a route mostly or entirely outside city limits is technically feasible, a true ring around Detroit would necessarily pass through Canada, and so Interstate 275 and Interstate 696 together bypass but do not encircle the city. Sometimes, the presence of significant natural or historical areas limits route options, as for

513-405: Is a loose conglomeration of four major arterial roads with an average distance of 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the downtown core. Yellowhead Trail forms the northern section, Wayne Gretzky Drive /75 Street forms the eastern section, Whitemud Drive forms the southern and longest section, and 170 Street forms the western and shortest section. Whitemud Drive is the only section that

570-413: Is a true controlled-access highway , while Yellowhead Trail and Wayne Gretzky Drive have interchanges and intersections and are therefore both limited-access roads . 170 Street and 75 Street are merely large arterial roads with intersections only. The second and more prominent ring road is named Anthony Henday Drive ; it circles the city at an average distance of 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from

627-417: Is challenging when a through highway and a loop bypass together form a circumferential ring road. Since neither of the highways involved is circumferential itself, either dual signage or two (or more) route numbers is needed. The history of signage on the Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C., is instructive here. Interstate 95 , a major through highway along the U.S. East Coast , was originally planned as

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684-527: Is detected, it notifies the closest law enforcement officer to investigate. At this time, Precinct 5 Constables and Harris County Sheriff's Office are being notified, but Houston Police Department has shown interest and wishes to be included to be notified. The total number of cameras that are planned for the system is 35. A previous route numbered Loop 8 was designated on September 25, 1939, in Beaumont, running from US 59 (later US 96, after

741-415: Is in Harris County . All exits are unnumbered. Beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline , beltway , circumferential ( high ) way , loop or orbital ) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducing traffic volumes in the urban centre, such as by offering an alternate route around

798-473: The 1939 redescription of the highway system ) at Gladys Street via Gulf Street, North Street, and Fourth Street to US 90 as a renumbering of SH 8 Loop . This route was cancelled on January 18, 1944. Houston, known for its fast population growth, began planning for a second beltway in the 1950s (the first was the I-610 loop, created between the 1950s and the 1970s). The beltway was designated as part of

855-474: The Frankfurt area, major national highways converge just outside city limits before forming one of several routes of an urban network of roads circling the city. Unlike in United States, route numbering is not a challenge on European ring roads as routes merge to form the single designated road. However, exit and road junction access can be challenging due to the complexity of other routes branching from or into

912-679: The Hardy Toll Road (basically a reliever for I-45 between downtown Houston and Montgomery County ) and the Sam Houston Tollway, which would be the main lanes of the Beltway. Shortly after the referendum, the Harris County Commissioners Court created the HCTRA to administer the construction and operation of the new road system. Then-County Judge Jon Lindsay is generally credited with shepherding

969-943: The North and South Circular roads and the Inner Ring Road ). Birmingham also has three ring roads which consist of the Birmingham Box ; the A4540 , commonly known as the Middleway; and the A4040 , the Outer Ring Road. Birmingham once had a fourth ring road, the A4400 . This has been partially demolished and downgraded to improve traffic flow into the city. Other British cities have two: Leeds , Sheffield , Norwich and Glasgow . Cleveland, OH and San Antonio, TX , in

1026-495: The United States , also each have two, while Houston, Texas will have three official ring roads (not including the downtown freeway loop). Some cities have far more – Beijing , for example, has six ring roads , simply numbered in increasing order from the city center (though skipping #1), while Moscow has five, three innermost ( Central Squares of Moscow , Boulevard Ring and Garden Ring ) corresponding to

1083-680: The 1950s and not yet completed, called the Suburban Beltway. It consists of several roads— Lagimodière Boulevard , Abinojii Mikanah , the Fort Garry Bridge, the Moray Bridge, William R Clement Parkway , Chief Peguis Trail and the Kildonan Bridge . Saskatoon , Saskatchewan, has a ring road named Circle Drive. It is cosigned as Saskatchewan Highway 16 and Saskatchewan Highway 11 along the whole route since

1140-415: The 2013 opening of Circle Drive South. Regina , Saskatchewan has a partial ring road that is named Ring Road ; however, due to the city's urban growth since the road was originally constructed, it no longer functions as a true ring road and has instead come to be used partially for local arterial traffic. The Regina Bypass , a new partial ring road, has replaced it, although Ring Road must still be used in

1197-604: The Beltway ", derived metonymically from the Capital Beltway encircling Washington, D.C. Ring roads have been criticised for inducing demand , leading to more car journeys being taken and thus higher levels of pollution being created. By creating easy access by car to large areas of land, they can also act as a catalyst for development, leading to urban sprawl and car-centric planning. Ring roads have also been criticised for splitting communities and being difficult to navigate for pedestrians and cyclists. Most orbital motorways (or beltways) are purpose-built major highways around

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1254-468: The Beltway was then redesignated from I-495 to I-95, leaving the I-495 designation only on the western portion, and the completed part of the planned Interstate inside the Beltway was redesignated as a spur, I-395 . A few years later, the resulting confusion from different route numbers on the circumferential Beltway was resolved by restoring I-495 signage for the entire Beltway, with dual signage for I-95 for

1311-562: The Houston area. The inner beltway, I-610 , lies mostly within Houston (except for an approximate two-mile (3.2 km) stretch that runs through the City of Bellaire ), and the outer beltway, SH 99 (Grand Parkway), is currently partially complete. Like other toll roads in the Houston area , the speed limit is 65 mph (105 km/h). The longest free section of main lanes is on

1368-486: The M25; 188 km), Sydney Orbital Network (110 km) and Rome Orbital (68 km). In the United States many ring roads are called beltlines , beltways or loops , such as the Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C. Some ring roads, such as Washington's Capital Beltway, use "Inner Loop" and "Outer Loop" terminology for directions of travel, since cardinal (compass) directions cannot be signed uniformly around

1425-501: The Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge, and moving in a clockwise direction, mainlane counts are as follows: A number of cameras are located at toll booths to record license plate information to a database and send a ticket for toll violations via mail. Recently, this system has been upgraded to alert local authorities if a vehicle has been flagged for any reason, including AMBER Alerts . When a flagged vehicle

1482-719: The Sam Houston Tollway, a toll road owned and operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA). East of Houston, the tollway crosses the Houston Ship Channel on the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge , a toll bridge ; this forms a gap in Beltway ;8 between I-10 (Baytown-East Freeway) and State Highway 225 (SH 225, La Porte Freeway). Beltway 8 is the intermediate beltway in

1539-461: The United States. In many cases, such as Interstate 285 in Atlanta, Georgia , circumferential highways serve as a bypass while other highways pass directly through the city center. In other cases, a primary Interstate highway passes around a city on one side, with a connecting loop Interstate bypassing the city on the other side, together forming a circumferential route, as with I-93 and I-495 in

1596-592: The area of Lawrence, Massachusetts . However, if a primary Interstate passes through a city and a loop bypasses it on only one side (as in the Wilmington, Delaware , area), no fully circumferential route is provided. Within cities, ring roads sometimes have local nicknames; these include Washington DC's Interstate 495 (The "Capital Beltway"), Interstate 270 in Columbus, Ohio (The "Outerbelt"), and Interstate 285 in Atlanta (The "Perimeter"). Route numbering

1653-838: The city for drivers who do not need to stop in the city core. Ring roads can also serve to connect suburbs to each other, allowing efficient travel between them. The name "ring road" is used for the majority of metropolitan circumferential routes in Europe, such as the Berliner Ring , the Brussels Ring , the Amsterdam Ring , the Boulevard Périphérique around Paris and the Leeds Inner and Outer ring roads. Australia , Pakistan and India also use

1710-475: The city of Calgary , Alberta, for an entire length of 101-kilometre (63 mi). Winnipeg , Manitoba, has a ring road which is called the Perimeter Highway . It is designated as Manitoba Highway 101 on the north, northwest and east sides and as Manitoba Highway 100 on the south and southwest sides. The majority of it is a four-lane divided expressway . It has a second ring road, planned since

1767-614: The concentric lines of fortifications around the ancient city, and the two outermost ( MKAD and Third Ring ) built in the twentieth century, though, confusingly, the Third Ring was built last. Geographical constraints can complicate the construction of a complete ring road. For example, the Baltimore Beltway in Maryland formerly crossed Baltimore Harbor on a high arch bridge prior to its collapse in 2024, and much of

Texas State Highway Beltway 8 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-509: The downtown core. It is a freeway for its entire 78-kilometre (48 mi) length, and was built to reduce inner-city traffic congestion, created a bypass of Yellowhead Trail, and has improved the movement of goods and services across Edmonton and the surrounding areas. It was completed in October 2016 as the first free-flowing orbital road in Canada. Stoney Trail is a ring road that circles

1881-488: The entire loop. The term 'ring road' is occasionally – and inaccurately – used interchangeably with the term ' bypass '. Bypasses around many large and small towns were built in many areas when many old roads were converted to four-lane status in the 1930s to 1950s, such as those along the Old National Road (now generally U.S. 40 or Interstate 70 ) in the United States, leaving the old road in place to serve

1938-492: The entirety of the route maintained its number, on September 26, 1939 the co-designations were dropped (with US 96 replacing part of US 59), leaving only the Arkansas-Corley segment to the old highway. The SH 8 Loop and SH 8 Spur routes were renumbered Loop 7 (Jasper), Loop 8 (Beaumont), and Loop 68 (Buna). On October 13, 1947 a small segment was reassigned back to SH 8 from US 59 from Corley to Linden when US 59

1995-464: The freeway-to-freeway interchanges at the Baytown-East, Gulf and Southwest Freeways. The frontage roads are generally continuous, and allow for slower free travel along the tolled segments. Only one break exists in the frontage roads; there are also several locations where one must turn to stay on them: The lane count is for mainlanes only, unless otherwise noted. Starting at the north end of

2052-665: The highway's concurrent use as a through Interstate on its eastern portion. The longest complete beltway in the United States is the Charles W. Anderson Loop , a 94-mile (151 km) loop in Texas that forms a complete loop around the Greater San Antonio area. The longest complete belt road, or a beltway that is only two lanes, in the United States is Hawaii Belt Road , a 260-mile (420 km) belt in Hawaii that forms

2109-542: The long-proposed Outer Beltway around Washington, D.C., where options for a new western Potomac River crossing are limited by a nearly continuous corridor of heavily visited scenic, natural, and historical landscapes in the Potomac River Gorge and adjacent areas. When referring to a road encircling a capital city, the term "beltway" can also have a political connotation, as in the American term " Inside

2166-633: The north side of Houston, stretching from Ella Boulevard east to Mesa Drive. This is maintained by TxDOT east of roughly the Hardy Toll Road interchange. This particular free section has remained untolled since its 1969 opening because of accessibility to George Bush Intercontinental Airport . It includes the interchanges with I-69 / US 59 (Eastex Freeway), John F. Kennedy Boulevard, the Hardy Toll Road, and I-45 (North Freeway). Three shorter free sections also exist: These all exist in order to allow federal funding to have been used to build

2223-711: The northeast quadrant of the city. Hamilton , Ontario, has the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway , Highway 403 and the Red Hill Valley Parkway which form a ring on three sides. Sudbury , Ontario, has a partial ring road consisting of the Southwest and Southeast Bypasses segment of Highway 17 , and the Northwest Bypass segment of Highway 144 . An unofficial northeast "bypass" route can also be completed on city arterial roads that largely bypass

2280-486: The opening 80-minute set. The band Huey Lewis and the News performed at the ceremony. The segment between US 290 and I-45 opened on July 8, 1990. The project was on schedule and $ 133 million (equivalent to $ 274 million in 2023) under budget. Despite recent speculation about the possibility of the Sam Houston Tollway being sold by HCTRA to a private firm, the Harris County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to keep

2337-527: The opening of West Belt Drive and Roark Road, two surface streets, in the mid-1970s. Efforts to construct a bridge over the Houston Ship Channel were stymied until the Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) was able to do so as a toll facility in the late 1970s. As a result, the section of Beltway 8 from I-10 to SH 225 on the east side of Houston was removed from the state highway system on July 24, 1978. The Jesse H. Jones Memorial Bridge

Texas State Highway Beltway 8 - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-408: The opening of the segment of Beltway 8 between I-10 (Katy Freeway) and US 290. On July 7, 1990, a ceremony, called Road Party II, took place for the opening of the section of Beltway 8 between I-45 (North Freeway) and US 290, the final segment. Organizers had planned for a crowd of 100,000. KLOL , a radio station, sponsored the event. Jerry Lightfoot & The Essential Band did

2451-522: The parent road, later reconnecting with the same highway. Such loops not only function as a bypass for through traffic, but also to serve outlying suburbs . In the United States, an Interstate highway loop is usually designated by a three-digit number beginning with an even digit before the two-digit number of its parent interstate. Interstate spurs, on the other hand, generally have three-digit numbers beginning with an odd digit. Circumferential highways are prominent features in or near many large cities in

2508-691: The partially completed Stockholm Ring Road in Sweden runs through tunnels or over long bridges. Some towns or cities on sea coasts or near rugged mountains cannot have a full ring road. Examples of such partial ring roads are Dublin's ring road ; and, in the USA, Interstate 287 , mostly in New Jersey (bypassing New York City), and Interstate 495 around Boston , none of which completely circles these seaport cities. In other cases, adjacent international boundaries may prevent ring road completion. Construction of

2565-415: The referendum from its infancy to its passage, along with the implementation of the plan for the roadway. During the public information campaign leading up to the referendum, the county government published brochures stating that the toll roads would become free once their construction costs had been recouped, but the tolls were not removed after the tollways were paid off. In 1989, The Bangles performed at

2622-476: The ring road. One of the most renowned ring roads is the Vienna Ring Road ( Ringstraße ), a grand boulevard constructed in the mid-19th century and filled with representative buildings. Due to its unique architectural beauty and history, it has also been called the "Lord of the ring roads", and is declared by UNESCO as part of Vienna's World Heritage Site . Major European cities that are served by

2679-648: The routing follows the present day SH 8 from the Arkansas state line to its terminus in Linden , then continued south on present day U.S. Highway 59 through Marshall , to Carthage . On U.S. Highway 96 , SH 8 traveled through San Augustine , Jasper to its junction with SH 62 , where it turned towards to its terminus in Port Arthur . On August 21, 1922 SH 8 was rerouted from Buna to Beaumont and into Port Arthur via present day US 96. On October 20, 1924, it

2736-547: The state highway system, reusing the Loop ;8 number, on May 7, 1969. Because the proposed route had been referred to locally as the Outer Belt, and Harris County used similar nomenclature for segments of the route, the designation was changed to Beltway 8 on July 31, 1969. It is the only state highway loop to bear the "Beltway" designation. The beltway's construction was done in a piecemeal fashion, beginning with

2793-528: The term ring road, as in Melbourne 's Western Ring Road , Lahore 's Lahore Ring Road and Hyderabad 's Outer Ring Road . In Canada the term is the most commonly used, with "orbital" also used, but to a much lesser extent. In Europe and Australia, some ring roads, particularly longer ones of motorway standard, are known as "orbital motorways". Examples are the London Orbital (generally known as

2850-496: The tollway in the hands of HCTRA. On September 3, 2007, the toll increased by $ 0.25 system wide with some exceptions. On February 26, 2011, construction of the main lanes between I-69/US 59 (Eastex Freeway) and US 90 (Crosby Freeway) was completed, thus completing the entire beltway system. This section was originally set to be completed between 2007 and 2009, but funding issues delayed its completion. The project cost $ 400 million (equivalent to $ 552 million in 2023) and

2907-629: The town or city, but allowing through travelers to continue on a wider, faster and safer route. Construction of fully circumferential ring roads has generally occurred more recently, beginning in the 1960s in many areas, when the U.S. Interstate Highway System and similar-quality roads elsewhere were designed. Ring roads have now been built around numerous cities and metropolitan areas, including cities with multiple ring roads, irregularly shaped ring roads and ring roads made up of various other long-distance roads. London has three ring roads (the M25 motorway ,

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2964-479: The urban core of the city, but are not fully controlled-access and must be shared with local traffic in the Nickel Centre and Rayside-Balfour districts of the city. Most major cities in Europe are served by a ring road that circles either the inner core of their metropolitan areas or the outer borders of the city proper or both. In major transit hubs, such as the Île-de-France region surrounding Paris and

3021-473: Was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The new 13-mile (21 km) section has three lanes in each direction, and an EZ Tag , TxTag or TollTag will be required to access it. Almost 60 years had passed between the planning of Beltway 8 and the opening of the final section. On August 28, 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused flooding to the West Belt and caused damage near I-10. The entire route

3078-401: Was opened in 1982. The TTA, however, turned down the opportunity to improve the entire beltway as well, leaving Harris County to upgrade the road to freeway standards. However, Harris County could not afford to build and maintain a freeway from its general fund. In September 1983, county voters approved a referendum by a 7–3 margin to release up to $ 900 million in bonds to create two toll roads,

3135-657: Was renumbered as SH 62 . It was reassigned as a spur route on September 16, 1926 going from St. Augustine south to Zavalla. On March 19, 1930, this route was renumbered as SH 147 . SH 8 begins on the south side of the city on Linden at an intersection with SH 155, less than a quarter of a mile west of its intersection with US Route 59 (Future Interstate 369). The highway travels north through northern Cass County, crossing over Wright Patman Lake into Bowie County. The highway briefly turns west with US Route 67 when they intersect in Maud . The route then turns back north, running along

3192-402: Was rerouted further east. SH 8 was rerouted around the western side of Linden on June 22, 1964, with the old route becoming FM 125 and Spur 400 . SH 8A was an alternate routing designated on June 17, 1918 just east of SH 8 from Shelbyville to Orange . On August 21, 1923, it had been renumbered as SH 87 , with the section from Shelbyville to Milam cancelled. SH 8A was reassigned as

3249-558: Was rerouted over SH 38 , which was cancelled, and concurrent with part of SH 43 . In 1926, SH 8 was rerouted back on its previously planned route, with the old route being transferred to SH 43 and SH 26A . US 59 was co-located over most of SH 8. On November 28, 1933, SH 8 Loop was designated in Beaumont. On February 18, 1936, SH 8 Loop was designated in Buna. On December 20, 1937, two SH 8 Spur routes were designated in Jasper. While

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