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Russia’s 200KM, 3-day Traffic Jam

Russia mega 200km traffic jam

Photo from video provided by 3news.co.nz

In Russia, a 200KM mega traffic jam has stranded drivers for several days. The backlog on this highway that runs between Moscow and St. Petersberg was intensified by heavy snow last week.

From Time.com:

“A 125-mile long queue of vehicles spanned the roadway, which connects Moscow and St. Petersburg. Traffic moved at a stop-and-go pace, with the main obstruction centered about 30 miles northwest of Tver, less than a quarter of the distance between the two cities.

“Drivers stranded by the three-day-long traffic jam complained that authorities weren’t offering enough assistance and that businesses close to the highway were taking advantage of them. Restaurants reportedly increased their prices, and gas stations ran out of fuel, according to social networking site Vkontakte and a Tver news website.

The Emergencies Ministry soon arrived on the scene to distribute food and set up warming stations, RIA Novosti reported. The division also established a support hotline to help distressed individuals deal with the standstill. Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov took a helicopter tour of Tver, Leningrad and Novgorod, which were the most impeded areas.”

Read the full article here on Time.com

In 2010 we wrote about a 100KM traffic jam that lasted for more than 9 days in China.

On the traffic jam in China, we wrote:

“For several decades, the Chinese managed to transport millions and millions of people efficiently around their cities – primarily by bicycle. There are reportedly 450 million bicycles in China, and the bicycle has served as a great tool historically.

Now, enter the world of the automobile. The Chinese have been making room for the automobile as their economy expands and wealth increases. But the automobile simply can’t support the same capacity that the bicycle can – and capacity is everything in a country of 1.3+ billion people with more than 160 cities with one or more million people.

The predicament that the Chinese are facing became evident to people around the world when the 100KM, 9-day traffic jam on the Beijing-Tibet “Expressway” was reported today by the CBC, CNN, and a Chinese English news agency, among others.

The traffic jam has stranded mostly truck drivers for reportedly 9 days, and many are playing cards to pass the time.”

James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.

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