That’s a lot of traffic, but it’s on a freeway in Beijing, not Houston

A photo of dozens of cars in dozens of lanes of traffic could cause Texas commuters nightmares. But fear not — the image doesn’t show a Houston freeway, as a recent Instagram post says. 

"Houston, Texas holds the record for the world’s widest highway," text over the image says. 

The July 18 post’s caption says: "The Katy Freeway in Houston, Texas holds the title for the world’s widest highway, boasting a remarkable 26 lanes!" 

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Count the lanes in the image and it becomes clear that there are more than 26 there. That’s because this photo was taken in China. It shows the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, which boasted 50 lanes when that picture was snapped — not 26.

The Katy Freeway in Houston is big, and in 2016 we fact-checked a claim that it was the widest freeway in the world. Our conclusion: Katy Freeway, a Houston portion of Interstate 10, has 13 lanes at its widest (not counting frontage roads). There’s a wider freeway in Canada, and, of course, the pictured behemoth Beijing. 

We rate claims this photo shows a Houston freeway False.