A lot of the backup on 610 is actually due to capacity constraints on the radial freeways just outside the Loop. You can see this on the 5:30pm Friday traffic image. On the north side, you have a tight-radius ramp from the North Loop to 45 North, and then a mad scramble to the left as traffic from 610 tries to avoid getting sucked into the Crosstimbers and Airline offramps. That bottleneck jams the North Loop all the way back to 290, at which point the construction zone takes over. It also slows down the North Freeway into the Heights. On the south side, both directions of 610 merge into 45 and then you lose a lane to the Park Place exit, so there's only four through lanes going past original Kelley's. That backs up the South Loop and 45 as far as Wayside. You have a similar situation on 288 south, where there's only three lanes going over Reed. That stacks up the South Loop as far west as Main/90A. On a bad day, the backup from 45 extends back as far as 288, and you experience the entirety of the South Loop as one continuous traffic jam. But 610 isn't the root cause, the radials are.
A lot of the backup on 610 is actually due to capacity constraints on the radial freeways just outside the Loop. You can see this on the 5:30pm Friday traffic image. On the north side, you have a tight-radius ramp from the North Loop to 45 North, and then a mad scramble to the left as traffic from 610 tries to avoid getting sucked into the Crosstimbers and Airline offramps. That bottleneck jams the North Loop all the way back to 290, at which point the construction zone takes over. It also slows down the North Freeway into the Heights. On the south side, both directions of 610 merge into 45 and then you lose a lane to the Park Place exit, so there's only four through lanes going past original Kelley's. That backs up the South Loop and 45 as far as Wayside. You have a similar situation on 288 south, where there's only three lanes going over Reed. That stacks up the South Loop as far west as Main/90A. On a bad day, the backup from 45 extends back as far as 288, and you experience the entirety of the South Loop as one continuous traffic jam. But 610 isn't the root cause, the radials are.