China National Highway 110 traffic jam
Encyclopedia
The China National Highway 110 traffic jam was a recurring massive traffic jam that began to form on August 14, 2010, mostly on China National Highway 110 (G110)
China National Highway 110
China National Highway 110 runs from Beijing to Yinchuan, via Hohhot and Baotou, in Inner Mongolia. It heads northwest from Beijing to Zhangjiakou then heads straight west, and runs to approximately 1,100 kilometres....

 and Beijing–Tibet expressway (G6), in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...

 and Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...

. The traffic jam slowed down thousands of vehicles for more than 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) and has lasted for more than ten days. Many drivers were able to move their vehicles 1 km (0.6 mi) per day, and some drivers reported being stuck in the traffic jam for five days. It is considered to be one of the "longest" traffic jams by some media.

Cause

Traffic on the China National Highway 110
China National Highway 110
China National Highway 110 runs from Beijing to Yinchuan, via Hohhot and Baotou, in Inner Mongolia. It heads northwest from Beijing to Zhangjiakou then heads straight west, and runs to approximately 1,100 kilometres....

 has grown 40 percent every year in the last several years, making the highway chronically congested. Currently, the traffic volume is more than 60% of the designed traffic capability.

The cause of the traffic jam was reported to be a spike in traffic by heavy trucks heading to Beijing, along with National Highway 110's maintenance work that began five days later. The road construction which decreased about 50% of the traffic capability has contributed heavily to the traffic jam and will likely not be over until mid-September. Police have reported minor breakdowns and accidents have compounded the problem.

Greatly increased coal production in Inner Mongolia shipped to Beijing along this route because of the lack of railway capacity has overloaded the highway. 602 million tons of coal were mined and shipped in 2009; production is expect to rise to 730 million tons in 2010.
An additional factor is efforts by overloaded trucks which lack proper paperwork for their cargo to avoid a coal quality supervision and inspection station on China National Highway 208
China National Highway 208
China National Highway 208 runs from Erenhot, Inner Mongolia to Changzhi, Shanxi province. It is 990 kilometres in length and runs south from Erenhot towards Shanxi province.-Route and distance:-External links:*...

.

Creation of mini-economy

Locals near the highway have sold various goods like water, instant noodles, and cigarettes at inflated prices to the stranded drivers. A bottle of water normally costs 1 yuan
Chinese yuan
The yuan is the base unit of a number of modern Chinese currencies. The yuan is the primary unit of account of the Renminbi.A yuán is also known colloquially as a kuài . One yuán is divided into 10 jiǎo or colloquially máo...

, but on the highway water is sold for 10 yuan. Drivers have also complained the price of instant noodles has more than tripled. Some vendors have created mobile stores on bicycles.

Response

Authorities have tried to speed up traffic by allowing more trucks to enter Beijing, especially at night. They have also asked trucking companies to suspend operations or take alternate routes.

End

By late August 2010, the traffic jam had largely dissipated, reportedly due to the efforts of authorities. Between Beijing and Inner Mongolia, only minor traffic slowdowns were reported near toll booths.

External links

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