China's Nine Day Traffic Jam

Thousands of vehicles on their way to Beijing, China have been stuck in a nine day traffic jam that has stretched over 100 km long.

The Beijing-Tibet Expressway came to a crawl on August 14 due to a spike in traffic caused by cargo bearing trucks and road maintenance work.

The state run newspaper reported that the traffic jam sparked a mini economy as local merchants took to the streets to sell food and water at inflated prices.

This highway, along with some others in China, has become prone to traffic jams as the Chinese capital of more than 20 million people takes in huge shipments of goods, including truck loads of coal. This kind of congestion in particular is expected to last until mid September when maintenance road work is subject to end.

But even if the road work does end, this expressway will still be seeing massive traffic congestion. This shows one of the ways in which China has become a leader in the emission of green house gases in addition to highlighting China's increasing road woes.

The city of Beijing already suffers from severe smog, as was noticeable in the last Summer Olympics. Traffic jams like these only further the harm to the environment and pose health threats to the city's inhabitants.

Sources and Pictures:
Yahoo News