Published 26th May, 2014
Congestion reached an all-time high on the May bank holiday
Over the May 1st national holiday, traffic piled high on the Beijing-Tibet expressway between the fourth ring road and Badaling. At its peak, a record-breaking 477,600 cars and buses backed up more than 55km along the highway – 13.6% up on a previous peak earlier this year.
The combination of a six-car pile up, innumerable traffic violations, endless tollbooths and a surge of holidaymakers all proved too much for the roads to bear, causing many drivers to sit at a standstill for hours. After the pile-up, which happened just after 5am, traffic on one section of the highway did not move for a full five and a half hours.
By comparison, the Beijing to Shanghai expressway seemed relatively fluid with jams lasting a mere three kilometres.