China's nine-day traffic jam stretches 100km

[Obama 2012 1,714]

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

BEIJING (AFP) – 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.

Click to see photos of the huge traffic jam

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.

Edited August 24, 2010 by Paul and Vanessa

[slim 1,525]

This is only going to get worse.

Like what happened in Russia, just becuase people can afford cars doesn't mean they magically now have somewhere to drive them.

China is pretty progressive though, I'm sure they'll bulldoze some neighborhoods and relocate some folks to build their new roads.

[Harsh_77 718]

LOL yea saw that article earlier..... jeez would hate to be stuck in there for 9 days.

Sleeping eating driving haha everything in car wow, I am surprised how ppl have not ran out of gas.

[Ban Hammer 13,343]

and in every car was a kid asking "are we there yet?"

[Harsh_77 718]

and in every car was a kid asking "are we there yet?"

lol

[Jenn! 918]

Get back on yer bikes!