This is not a joke (in fact, we wish it was): A recent traffic jam on the main road to Beijing kept Chinese drivers in gridlocked traffic — for nine days straight. According to China’s Global Times:

Traffic authorities were still struggling to cope with days-long congestion on a major national expressway, nine days after traffic slowed to a snail’s pace, and nearby residents are profiting on the latest traffic snarl by overcharging drivers for food.

Since August 14, thousands of Beijing-bound trucks have jammed the expressway again, and traffic has stretched for more than 100 kilometers between Beijing and Huai’an in Hebei Province, and Jining in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China National Radio (CNR) reported Sunday.

The official cause of the ungodly congestion was “insufficient traffic capacity on the National Expressway 110 caused by maintenance construction since August 19″ — in other words, a far greater-than-expected number of heavy trucks clogging the roadway. The congestion is expected to be nightmarish for at least a month — picture the rush hour of an L.A. or a New York, but for 24 hours a day.[SButtonZ button="digg"]

Drivers caught in this Dante-esque disaster reportedly passed the time by playing cards, and food vendors were taking full advantage of their trapped clientele, charging four times their regular price for noodles and other food.

As the graph below shows, there is an alternate route to the jam-packed expressway. But many drivers, particularly truckers, chose not to take it because, they said, it involved traveling a longer distance and their costs for fuel and tolls would increase — though the fuel costs of idling for 4 days in traffic likely ate up any savings they would enjoy by taking the shorter route.

The long waits — including days and nights spent in crawling cars — unsurprisingly led to minor fender benders and other accidents, which in turn led to even more delays. So basically you’re looking at the modern version of transportation hell.

While China has made huge advancements in public transit, including a high speed rail system that puts our trains to absolute shame, the growing population and the emergence of the new middle class (most of whom become first-time car-owners) and the huge increase in trucked goods has led to disasters like these. Perhaps what’s most surprising is that Chinese drivers are willing to tolerate it, rather than turning around and going home.

Images: Courtesy Global Times

Tags: China, Traffic Insanity