Thursday, August 26, 2010
Longest traffic jam:
60-mile,
11-day Chinese traffic jam sets world record
BEIJING, China -- Thousands of motorists
have been caught up in a 60-mile, 11-day tailback on the National
Expressway 110 between the capital Beijing and Inner Mongolia
-
setting
the new world record for the
Longest
traffic jam
.
Photo: A jammed section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou
highway in Huailai in north China's Hebei province. Roadworks
are blamed for causing the 60-mile jam that has lasted 11
days. / AP photo - Alexander F. Yuan
( enlarge
photo
)
The World's
Longes
t
traffic jam
, was caused by a flood of cargo-bearing
heavy trucks and compounded by road work. Traffic officials
had estimated the Longest
traffic jam in the World
would last until mid-September.
While many motorists took detours, some
ended up trapped for up to five days, sleeping in their cars
and taking shifts behind the wheel.
Others played cards to pass the time and
chatted by the roadside as 400 police were drafted in to ensure
the communal road rage was kept in check.
And local traders made the most of the
situation by setting up stalls and roaming from lorry to lorry
selling their wares at exorbitant prices.
A publicity officer with the Beijing Traffic
Management Bureau blamed insufficient capacity as a result
of the roadworks for the delays.
An eight tonne limit was imposed but this
month there have been even more trucks carrying heavy loads
of coal or fruit because the Beijing section of the other
major route out of the capital - the Beijing-Tibet Expressway
- has had stricter weight limits brought in.
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Thursday, August 26, 2010