Is an image that depicts a highway with some 20 lanes in each direction a photo of the Katy Freeway in Texas?
The image of such a massive highway drew comments including, "That image sums up the toxic effect of human presence on the planet very nicely," which might have been the reaction the person posting was going after.
Whatever, the image is not, as a social media post claims, the Katy Freeway in Texas.
The Katy Freeway is in Houston and is part of Interstate 10, which runs across the southern and western U.S. According to the Federal Highway Administration, the largest section of Houston's portion of Interstate 10 spans 12 lanes, far fewer than the highway in the post.
Another post that used the same image claimed it showed the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway in China.
Although Lead Stories could not locate the origin of the image, the color correction, season and other elements are visually similar to images of Russian highways.