If you endured this you'd never bitch about traffic again

[Triballife]

Beijing-Tibet highway jam ends after 10 days

August 26th 2010,
Beijing-Tibet highway jam ends after 10 days

After reportedly 10 days, the build-up dubbed "China's monster traffic jam" is finally over, as reported by MSNBC.

The congestion, located about 200 km northwest for Beijing on the…er…"Expressway," covered more than 100 km. The highway is highly susceptible to gridlock even during the best circumstances, and the traffic jam even spawned its own economy with street vendors selling water and food at a high markup.

MSNBC said a large contributor to the problem is the transport of coal. With coal in heavy demand and a lack of rail lines, it is ferried out from Inner Mongolia using the expressway.

The mother of all road works have spawned a temporary and very slow-moving community. Truck drivers, their vehicles packed with coal from Inner Mongolia, wash themselves in the scorching heat by the roadside, play cards to pass the time, and sleep beneath their lorries. Occasionally they get back into the vehicles to move forward a few inches – then turn off the engines and get out again.

The ultimate driving nightmare has led to authorities posting 400 police officers in the area to prevent the frustrations of drivers from boiling over and to try to prevent criminals taking advantage of stationary vehicles to rob motorists. "One night, around eight robbers attacked six trucks and cars, and ran away with a total 60,000 yuan (£7,000). One of the old drivers we know was even injured and the windshield of his truck was broken," a woman with the surname Ding, the wife of one of the drivers, told the Beijing Morning Post.


From 2 sources.

[LordCC]

Thats insane and makes me happy I dont live in China lol