After the heavy rains last night, you probably had a rough ride to work this morning. Or maybe you take the LIRR, and your train is waiting (and waiting) to leave Penn Station right now. But unless you live in China, you’ve got nothing to complain about.
That’s because National Expressway 110—also known as the Beijing-Tibet expressway—is in the midst of a nine-day, 62-mile traffic jam.
Yes. You read that correctly. Sixty-two miles of traffic. Nine days.
The cause of the absolutely insane traffic jam has been a perfect storm of bumper-to-bumper incidents that first began on Aug. 14 (seriously, nine days ago), when an increased number of trucks began heading to Beijing. Five days after that, construction began on the expressway. And of course, sporadic collisions and breakdowns haven’t helped matters.
The epic traffic jam has led to price gouging on the sides of roads, where instant noodles are exchanging hands at up to four times their normal price.
The aforementioned construction isn’t expected to wrap up until mid-September.