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03-27-2023 11:29 PM
China's 50-Lane Traffic Jam Is Every Commuter's Worst Nightmare
What happens when a checkpoint merges 50 lanes down to 20.
Traffic after the holidays tend to be pretty awful. But China may have just turned every driver’s worst nightmare into reality as hundreds of millions of people headed home at the end of a Golden Week, a week-long national holiday.
Thousands of motorists found themselves stranded on Tuesday in what looks from above like a 50-lane parking lot on the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, one of the country’s busiest roads. Some are dubbing the traffic jam a "carpocalypse," while others are calling it “carmageddon.”
Though foggy weather may have played a role, the real culprit is a new checkpoint that forces traffic to merge from 50 lanes down to just 20, according to The People’s Daily. Traffic was reportedly backed up for hours.
China is no stranger to these ridiculous traffic jams, especially on national highways. In 2010, gridlock spanning more than 74 miles on the stretch between the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Beijing left drivers with nowhere to go for a staggering 12 days. That time blame fell on everything from road construction to broken down cars and fender-benders.
People played cards to pass the time while nearby vendors took the opportunity to sell food and water at premium prices. “If you said ‘no’ or complained about the price they threaten to break your [wind]shields,” one driver told the Inner Mongolia Morning Post.
In 2012, the government’s decision to grant free road travel during the same national holiday turned 24 motorways in 16 provinces into a massive parking lot with more than 85 million people stuck in their cars.
From: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-08/china-s-50-lane-traffic-jam-is-every-commuter-s-worst-nightmare
Note: The article contains the photo in the OP. It is from 2015.
03-27-2023 11:48 PM
I live in SoCal and all I can say is .... Wow!
03-28-2023 12:50 AM
@fthunt : When I first went to China in 1981 yes, they did primarily ride scooters but now they all ride cars, including many American cars. The only make you never see is Toyota, Chinese have never forgotten Japanese occupation.
03-28-2023 03:51 AM
Anyone remember the TV show many, many years ago ... The Jetsons ?
George hopped in his car which immediately turned into a small plane, and off he went.
When he arrived at work he hopped out and his little plane turned into a briefcase ... and he then went in to work.
I want one of those.
03-28-2023 08:28 AM
I just got done telling my DH that even our back roads are getting swamped!
But, I'll keep that picture in mind next time the highway around here gets bottled up!
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