Remember China's massive, nine-day-plus traffic jam from a couple of weeks ago? It's baaaaaaack. Yet another huge-ass traffic jam has blocked the same road linking Inner Mongolia to metropolitan Beijing: The Return of the China Traffic Jam.
According to Chinese media, more than 100 regional police officers manned the road in an effort to break the gridlock -- eleven days long and counting -- that has basically turned a 75-mile stretch of the Jingzang Highway into a 10,000-vehicle parking lot:
As many as 10,000 vehicles, mostly trucks, are crammed fender to fender for 74.5 miles (120 km) along the north-south Beijing-Tibet expressway.Imagine being in a traffic jam so bad, and so long, that you have to eventually fall asleep at the wheel -- which, in turn, makes the gridlock even worse. Eleven days in your car! And this could apparently last weeks. At some wherever you're going is just not worth it. Something to think about before you complain about Labor Day weekend traffic.
The highway mess can be attributed, at least in part, to roadwork intended to alleviate the congestion. But other factors are also slowing traffic, including drivers falling asleep in the days-long gridlock and blocking other vehicles when there is some movement, Chinese news reports state.
The bulk of congestion is located between Inner Mongolia and Hebei province, which is located northwest of Beijing, according to the Global Times. Vehicles consist primarily of trucks carrying coal and food into Beijing.