{"id":133928,"date":"2026-01-22T19:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/133928\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T19:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:38:33","slug":"heres-why-bridges-and-overpasses-freeze-first-in-arctic-blasts-especially-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/133928\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why bridges and overpasses freeze first in arctic blasts\u2014especially in Houston!"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re planning on traveling across Houston\u2019s major roads during the winter storm <\/a>this weekend, you\u2019re going to want to be especially cautious driving on the city\u2019s many bridges and overpasses.<\/p>\n

THE LATEST: Winter Storm Watch issued ahead of Saturday\u2019s possible freeze<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

Bridges have cold air on all sides<\/p>\n

Regular roads are on the ground, which holds heat on its surface. The soil under normal roads acts like a thermal blanket, and slowly releases heat upward, allowing roadways to freeze slightly slower. <\/p>\n

Bridges and overpasses are exposed to cold air above and below, so heat escapes much faster.<\/p>\n

Faster icing, even with temperatures above freezing<\/p>\n

Because bridges and overpasses get cold quicker and retain those low temperatures, they can freeze even when the air temperature is slightly above 32\u00b0F.<\/p>\n

Moisture from rain, drizzle, or humidity can also play a factor turn into hazardous black ice much faster.<\/p>\n

The Houston factor: Humidity<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s high humidity means that moisture condenses and freezes easily. <\/p>\n

This is why freezing temperatures in Houston can often feel much more drastic than they do in dryer, landlocked areas up north.<\/p>\n

Why TxDOT warns drivers<\/p>\n

This is why you often see:<\/p>\n

\u201cBridges and overpasses may ice in cold weather\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if nearby roads seem fine, bridges can already be slick.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re planning on traveling across Houston\u2019s major roads during the winter storm this weekend, you\u2019re going to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[10666,4936,4434,56,58,57,1829,66,223,57238,272,6208,172,9181],"class_list":{"0":"post-133928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-bridges","9":"tag-cold-front","10":"tag-freeze","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-headlines","13":"tag-houston-news","14":"tag-ice","15":"tag-local","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-overpasses","18":"tag-traffic","19":"tag-travel","20":"tag-weather","21":"tag-winter-weather"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}