China-sized traffic jam

Have you guys heard about this? A 10,000 car traffic jam that has lasted for a dozen days and at one point stretched bumper-to-bumper for over 70 miles! Now that is a traffic jam!

This is considered the world’s longest traffic jam ever, and the third such traffic backup on the Beijing-Xinjiang highway this month. The expressway has been packed with trucks loaded with coal and other vehicles since mid-august and was originally caused from road repairs and increased trucking. This traffic jam has created a coal shortage in Beijing, since much of the supply of coal headed there is loaded in idle trucks. It has also adversely affected the income of drivers who are stuck on the highway spending their time by playing cards and sleeping until traffic begins to move again days later.

There has been no reports of road rage or crimes among motorists, but there has been complaints of price-gouging by locals offering food and other goods to stuck drivers.

2 Responses to “China-sized traffic jam”

  1. I did hear about that. I imagine a lot of people ran out of gas, or just had to abandon their cars at some point! Crazy!

  2. The photo is fake. It’s a heavily photoshopped image of the 405 in Los Angeles. Proof here: http://www.bricoleurbanism.org/whimsicality/when-photoshop-is-so-good-its-bad/