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View Full Version : China's nine-day traffic jam stretches 100km



phyzik
08-23-2010, 11:53 AM
Imagine the ammount of road rage being built up in that monster!!! :wow

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7mCeh43Lk-RIXgcK3jGiDODQt0A



BEIJING — 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.

That stretch of highway linking Beijing with the northern province of Hebei and the Inner Mongolia region has become increasingly prone to massive jams as the capital of more than 20 million people sucks in huge shipments of goods.

Traffic slowed to a snail's pace in June and July for nearly a month, according to earlier press reports.

The latest clog has been worsened by the road improvement project, made necessary by highway damage caused by a steady increase in cargo traffic, the Global Times said.

China has embarked in recent years on a huge expansion of its national road system but soaring traffic periodically overwhelms the grid.

The congestion was expected to last into mid-September as the road project will not be finished until then, the newspaper said.

The roadway is a major artery for the supply of produce, coal and other goods to Beijing.

SourCandy
08-23-2010, 12:04 PM
Wow that is horrible! I wonder if the drivers were thinking "any min now"

Drachen
08-23-2010, 12:07 PM
sucks to be them. That is literally the only thing (that I can encounter on a semi regular basis) that angers me way over my boiling point. This is why I am happy that I live 5 miles from work and don't have to hit a highway.

SpursNextRomanEmpire
08-23-2010, 12:10 PM
:wow

hater
08-23-2010, 12:22 PM
"boss, sorry I'll be in the office late... traffic is killer... I should be in around Thursday next week"

TDMVPDPOY
08-23-2010, 12:36 PM
i think those drivers probably spend their yearly income just within those 9 days....

Cry Havoc
08-23-2010, 02:46 PM
As I've said many times on this website before, China has not sufficiently developed their infrastructure, and it's going to burn them (probably literally) in the long run. This is going to be the tip of the iceberg for them unless they seriously alter the way they are developing their country. And they won't, because their government has too much pride to ever admit that they've made a mistake or are doing anything wrong.

You think American politicians are bad? They're nothing compared to what goes on in China and Japan, where they routinely kill themselves if they've convicted of illicit activity.

Cane
08-23-2010, 04:06 PM
Seems like something from The Onion.

Wild Cobra
08-23-2010, 11:11 PM
Maybe we can send some unemployed people here to help them build roads? Afterall, they have all their people making goodies for us.

let's start with the welfare rolls...

Send them all to China!

Cry Havoc
08-25-2010, 02:54 PM
The report released by the Chinese traffic authority says it's estimated that the traffic jam will last for up to 3 weeks.

Xevious
08-25-2010, 03:03 PM
Traffic is reason #1 I don't seek out an 8-5 job.

CubanSucks
08-25-2010, 03:05 PM
China=clusterfuck