# 6-lane highways?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lane-highways/231784>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 29, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lane-highways/231784 "2004-02-29T20:01:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lane-highways/231784/1 "2004-02-29T20:01:50Z")

</div>

OK, this is a really stupid question, but…

When people speak of 6- (or 4- or 8- or whatever) lane roads, is that the total number of lanes going both ways? Or is it the number of lanes each way?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lane-highways/231784/2 "2004-02-29T20:05:05Z")

</div>

They’re referring to the total number of lanes, so a 6-lane highway has 3 lanes going each way.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![seaworthy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lane-highways/231784/3 "2004-02-29T20:05:39Z")

</div>

IME people generally count the total number of lanes going both ways, but I personally find it silly, because if one side of the road has 2 lanes, it’s a good bet the other side does too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lane-highways/231784/4 "2004-02-29T21:10:40Z")

</div>

> [@seaworthy](#):
>
> IME people generally count the total number of lanes going both ways, but I personally find it silly, because if one side of the road has 2 lanes, it’s a good bet the other side does too.

Some roads that go into the middle of cities have movable barriers to accomodate rush hour traffic. So in the morning you might have four lanes going and and two going out, and vice-versa in the evening.