Interstate 610 (I-610) is a freeway that forms a 38-mile-long (61 km) loop around the inner city sector of the city of Houston, Texas. I-610, colloquially known as The Loop, Loop 610, The Inner Loop, or just 610, traditionally marks the border between the inner city of Houston ("inside the Loop") and its surrounding areas. It is the innermost of the three Houston beltways, the other two being Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway) and State Highway 99 (SH 99, Grand Parkway), of which various segments are under construction or planning. In Houston, the area inside the 610 Loop is the urban core. Jeff Balke of the Houston Press wrote that the freeway "is as much a social and philosophical divide as a physical one". Mike Snyder in the Houston Chronicle wrote that as someone from the 610 Loop he hist