China’s 100km, nine day traffic jam

If you think traffic jams here in the UK are bad you should spare a thought for motorists who have been caught up n a jam that lasted over nine days on a stretch of road that runs between Jining in Inner Mongolia and Huai’an in Hebei province, north-west of Beijing although state television said The situation has now “basically returned to normal,” on Monday there are still major problems on the roads near Beijing.

The problem was caused by vehicles mostly lorries bound for Beijing being held up for at least 100km because of heavy traffic, road works and breakdowns, this has highlighted China’s growing congestion problems and although they are quickly building new roads traffic is increasing quicker than the roads can be built.

The roadwork’s that are being carried out on the motorway which is part of the Beijing-Tibet expressway are necessary to repair damage caused by an increase in cargo lorries carrying coal from Inner Mongolia which use the highway. There may still be many congestion problems to come on this stretch of road as the road project will not be finished until mid-September.

Many drivers however who have were stuck in the jam complained about the locals who seem to have created a mini economy by capitalising on the stranded drivers’ predicament by over-charging them for food and drink while they were stuck.

Picture courtesy of poeloq

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