Doesn't 610 have about half the radius of Beltway 8? That seemed to be what was showing on maps of the area, IIRC.
Yea - but neither highway has changed its alignment (highway talk) since being built, as implied by the earlier post, as I read it.
Loop 610 was designed so that if a 10 megaton bomb exploded in downtown Houston and destroyed the interchanges between US59, I-10, and I-45, it would still be possible for Houston to be connected to the Interstate Highway system via Loop 610.