Nine-day Chinese traffic jam stretches over 60 miles

Maintenance work, wrecks and broken down cars caused a nine-day traffic jam in China that stretched for more than 60 miles (100 kilometres). The traffic jam, on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway between Beijing and Huai'an, began on August 14 when thousands of Beijing-bound coal and fruit trucks jammed the roadway.

A major cause of the congestion was maintenance work on the nearby National Expressway 110, which had suffered damage from heavy vehicles. The roadworks work forced drivers to use the Beijing-Tibet Expressway instead. Coupled with several minor accidents and broken down cars, traffic has now been stranded on the expressway for the past nine days.


Photo from here.

The traffic jam is expected to last for almost a month with maintenance work on the National Expressway 110 not due to be finished until September 13. Drivers were reportedly playing cards to kill time on the roadway.

Residents who live along the roadway were reportedly profiting from the traffic jam, selling food to stranded drivers at inflated prices. "Instant noodles are sold at four times the original price while I wait in the congestion," one driver said. "Not only the congestion annoys me, but also those vendors." About 400 traffic police are on duty by the roadway to maintain law and order.