Posted on 08/24/2010 10:56:34 AM PDT by Dallas59
Bumper-to-bumper gridlock spanning for 60 miles (100 kilometers) with cars moving little more than a half-mile (one kilometer) a day at one point has improved since this weekend, said Zhang Minghai, director of Zhangjiakou city's Traffic Management Bureau general office.
But he said he wasn't sure when the situation along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway would return to normal.
The traffic jam started Aug. 14 on a stretch of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway. That section has frequently been congested, especially after large coalfields were discovered in Inner Mongolia, Zhang said. Traffic volume has increased 40 percent every year.
Drivers stranded in the gridlock in the Inner Mongolia region and Hebei province, headed toward Beijing, passed the time sleeping, walking around, or playing cards and chess. Local villagers were doing brisk business selling instant noodles, boxed lunches and snacks, weaving between the parked trucks on bicycles.
The highway construction in Beijing that is restricting inbound traffic flow and causing the jam "will not be finished until Sept. 17," he said.
Authorities were trying to speed up traffic by allowing more trucks to enter Beijing, especially at night, Zhang said. They also asked trucking companies to suspend operations and advised drivers to take alternate routes.
China's roadways are increasingly overburdened as the number of private vehicles booms along with commercial truck traffic hauling materials like coal and food to cities. Traffic slowdowns because of construction and accidents are common, though a 10-day traffic jam is unusual even in China.
LOL
Havent seen those signs for years.
That picture looks like I-35 on a Sunday Morning...
Wow, and I hated the Norfolk, VA tunnel traffic. It was a bummer to take an hour and a half to make a 10 mile drive, but that traffic has nothing on this China travesty. I’m surprised they’re not reporting riots.
Communist urban planning.
Waiting for the Cheerleaders for Communist China...and the Liberal Globalists....to spin this one. NiHao. Chairman Mao...
That was my first thought too after reading the headline and seeing the photo. Sometimes after listening to the news I get concerned about the success of China, etc. Then I see a story like this!
Perhaps we should find old Fotomat employees and ask what they did.
No problem.
A. China's 1978 auto production - about 150,000 vehicles/yr
B. China's estimated 2010 auto production - estimated to be about 17,000,000.
People throughout China like the second option better. Which should be obvious.
However, I'm sure you like the first option better for China. And, after reading some of your past posts, its obvious to me why you like option "A", better.
The issue for many like yourself, isn't about the number of cars on Beijing's freeway (I personally don't believe you care one way or another). There is a certain segment of the American public that simply don't want to see the rise of China. Regardless of the means of getting there, whether the means are legitimate or not.
The fact that you take an everday occurence, i.e., a traffic jam, to invite a political statement, conveys you are really pissed off about China's rise. But then again, that is what you are conveying overall on the FR.
How do you like my spin? :)
Just as a side note, I maybe over inflating the 1978 auto production numbers, but I’m certainly not over inflating the 2010 auto production estimate.
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