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These 2 notorious Houston highways are the most congested in Texas

Houston traffic congestion bumper to bumper

No surprise that Loop 610 is the most congested highway in Texas.

Photo courtesy of ABC13

Houston drivers know traffic can be a nightmare, so it's no surprise the city now holds the top two spots for the busiest freeways in the state, according to a report by Texas A&M's Transportation Institute.

The 610 Loop from I-10 to I-69 in Uptown is listed as the most congested in Texas with 1.6 million wasted hours in traffic per mile. Texas A&M researchers calculated an annual congestion cost (associated with fuel consumption). The amount lost for drivers on the 610 Loop is estimated at $119,397,248.

The Southwest Freeway from the 610 Loop to Highway 288 comes in second. Its annual wasted hours in traffic is 1,372,657, while its annual congestion cost comes out to $146,531,409.

This is the first time in six years a metro area has held the top two spots.

To generate the report, researchers studied almost 1,800 sections of road from all of the Texas urban areas (with populations over 50,000), covering about 10,000 miles of roadway.

Houston has been dinged when it comes to traffic for many reasons, including for having three of the most dangerous highways in America.

Despite that, Houston still doesn't have the worst traffic in the state. A report from August shows that honor goes to a neighbor of ours to the north.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”