Worlds longest beltways / ringroads

[x-type]

@Mateusz: no need for that neither. at least - not yet. exits at ZG bypass don't make jams, they are mosly fluent (the only exits where you can see cars standing at exit ramps are A3 exit 5 Buzin in rushhours (but not making troubles at motorway) and sometimes A4 exit 11 Kraljevečki Novaki (but just because non-working traffic lights at cinterchange with D road with exit ramps, and it is really rare, i saw it for the last time one year ago). 3+3 at ZG bypass would be enough for long period.

[Majestic]

Ankara Ring Road - Otoyol 20/E90

120 km
2x4

[Robosteve]

Does anybody have any ideas about what might be the world's widest ring road?

The Warringah Freeway, which forms part of Sydney's Orbital Motorway, is sixteen lanes (6+3+3+4) at its widest point, but only nine of those lanes can be accessed from or provide access to the next section to the south, the Sydney Harbour Tunnel (the remaining lanes connect to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is not part of the orbital). In addition, many of them are only there to provide access to on and off ramps to the north. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel is 2x2, and the portals to the Lane Cove Tunnel just a few kilometres to the north form a 2x2 motorway (although non-merging access ramps make some of the tunnel 2x3), so there are really only four through lanes.

Within the next few years, however, Brisbane will be able to lay claim to the widest section of a partial ring road in Australia. Currently, the Gateway Bridge on the Gateway Motorway carries a 2x3 configuration, but when the second bridge is finished and both bridges are open to traffic, they will together form a 2x6 motorway.

[ChrisZwolle]

Beltways are often not very wide because they carry through and periferical traffic, which usually is not as much as local/regional commuting traffic.

The MKAD in Moscow is 2x5 all the way I believe. Part of the Rotterdam Ringroad has 12 lanes. I think there are many beltways which have exceptionally wide stretches, but not for long distances.

[SeanT]

Originally Posted by ABRob

The ringroad Vienna is called "Regionenring", wil be about 200km long and should be finished in 2014:
http://www.asfinag.at/index.php?idtopic=74

To compare it with the size of Vienna is a very big,long ringroad, isn´t it?

[city_thing]

Sydney's ringroad is called the 'Orbital'. It was only recently completed with the opening of the Lane Cove tunnel on the North Shore.





Images:

Lane Cove tunnel


Eastern distributer tunnel


image hosted on flickr


Lighthorse Interchange, under construction

image hosted on flickr

[Robosteve]

Originally Posted by city_thing

Eastern distributer tunnel

An interesting fact about the Eastern Distributor tunnel, as evidenced in that particular photograph, is that the only way they could fit a 2x3 configuration into the available underground corridor was to put one carriageway on top of the other, not beside it. Southbound traffic is carried along the bottom of the tunnel, and northbound traffic passes above it.

Another interesting thing about that road is that its original design and function were completely different to what it is today. When the idea of the motorway was first conceived in the 1950s, it was supposed to be a surface motorway along the same route as the present-day tunnel, but from the intersection with Oxford Street it would have turned east and become the Eastern Freeway. The only section of the original Eastern Freeway ever built was the Bondi Junction bypass, now known as Syd Einfeld Drive. Today, instead of serving as a radial route to the Eastern suburbs, the Eastern Distributor forms part of Sydney's orbital road, and also happens to be the main road between the CBD and the Airport.

[Timon91]

That eastern distributer tunnel looks somehow like the planned double-deck A2 tunnel near Maastricht (Netherlands)

[Mateusz]

In fact, Łódź (Boat City) will have the longest ring road in Poland

109 km

A1/A2/S8/S14

[pwalker]

Houston, Texas has an inner loop and outer loop.

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/

[ChrisZwolle]

Actually, Houston has 3 beltways, if you count the US59/I-10/I-45 around downtown. Then the I-610 and then the Sam Houston Tollway. And there's another non-freeway ringroad.

The number of cities with more than 2 beltways is pretty limited though. I can think of Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing and Paris at the moment.

[staff]

What about the Ring Öresund once the proposed Helsingborg-Helsingör tunnel has been completed? 173 km according to Google Maps.

image hosted on flickr



I guess it doesn't count though..

[staff]

ChrisZwolle,

Does Copenhagen O3 and/or Malmö's Yttre Ringvägen (Outer Beltway) count as real beltways (separately that is)? Both are constructed to serve as ringroads but are bypasses as well - plus they don't circle either of the cities completely.

Btw, as for short ring roads-- Malmö's Inner Beltway (Inre Ringvägen - not nearly a circle though, but was built to serve as a ring road) is a mere 9,2 km. It is currently being extended to around 11,5 km though.

[H123Laci]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

Not necessarily full circles, but bypasses are not beltways. I'd say at least three quarters around a city or/and functions as a beltway.

yeah.
the M0 of budapest became 3/4 circle 3 months ago, so it is a real beltway...

[H123Laci]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

Cairo Ring Road 110 kilometers 2x4 lanes...

its easy to build a (ring)road without fighting with nimbies...

[H123Laci]

Originally Posted by Majestic

Ankara Ring Road - Otoyol 20/E90
120 km - 2x4

nice wide road...

but where are the cars?

[marki]

Should also not leave out Bangkok. Its Outer Ring Road called Kanchanaphisek Road or Motorway route 9 is 164km long.

Bangkok also has inner ring road consisting of the 2nd stage (Si-Rat), Chalerm Mahanakhon, Ran Intra expressways which is 30.5 km long. Perhaps not originally designed as a ring, you can keep going round and round so long as you pay the tolls.

Another inner ring road, non-concentric to the second, is Ratchadaphisek Rd, Rama III and Charan Sanit Wong. Not quite motorway standard, it has numerous under/over passes and pretty quick except for a few bottlenecks at Asoke and Bang Phlad.

By contrast, Ayutthaya and Chaing Mai have more 'ancient' ring roads following moats. The one in Ayutthaya is known as U-Thong Rd and is about 10 km long.

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

The number of cities with more than 2 beltways is pretty limited though. I can think of Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing and Paris at the moment.

[staff]

Shanghai's A30 ring is 189 km long btw..

[rilham2new]

Jakarta the capital city of Indonesia got several Ring Road
1. Jakarta Inner-ring Road (almost 46 km) *TOLLED-Highway (6 lanes motorway)
2. Jakarta Outer-ring road (88 km, some section are still U/C) *Tolled-Highway (6 lanes motorway)
However the longer secondary Jakarta Outer-ring Road are also planned ... I'm still not sure about the total length of that highway.



Jakarta is not the only city in Indonesia which got Ring Road.
1. Jogja Ring-road (almost 40 km) => it is 6 lanes motorway
2. Bogor Ring-road (22 km). => it is 4 lanes motorway

[Exethalion]

M25 London Orbital in Untied Kingdom - 188km, though it isn't a perfect ring since the A282 forms the Dartford crossing over the Thames in the East. It's the 2nd longest ring in Europe according to wiki.

As for the widest, I'd suggest the Garden Ring in Moscow, which is more of an avenue or boulevard, but it's pretty wide all the way around.