China's nine-day traffic jam stretches 100km

[throwawaydad]

"...Thousands of vehicles were bogged down Monday in a more than 100-kilometre (62-mile) traffic jam leading to Beijing that has lasted nine days and highlights China's growing road congestion woes.

The Beijing-Tibet expressway slowed to a crawl on August 14 due to a spike in traffic by cargo-bearing heavy trucks heading to the capital, and compounded by road maintenance work that began five days later, the Global Times said.

The state-run newspaper said the jam between Beijing and Jining city had given birth to a mini-economy with local merchants capitalising on the stranded drivers' predicament by selling them water and food at inflated prices..."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100823/sc_afp/chinaroadtraffic

[thekfc]

9 days     

And people here in NYC complains about 1/2 hour of traffic jams. 

[throwawaydad]

Apparently folks felt dissatisfied with the results of the first jam, and have decided that a "do-over" would fix things.



"BEIJING – Thousands of coal trucks and other vehicles were backed up for miles on a highway in northern China on Friday, the latest in a series of monster traffic jams that have plagued the overloaded road since construction began on a parallel route earlier this summer.

Police redirected traffic and reminded drivers to stay alert in the gridlock along on the Beijing-Tibet highway, an official with the Jining district traffic police in Inner Mongolia said Friday. Like many Chinese bureaucrats, he refused to give his name."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_china_traffic_jam

[michaelb]

Hey, man, I gotta go to the bathroom. Would you mind sitting in the cab of my truck and making sure it continues to block traffic for a couple of minutes? Thanks.