Expressway? More like a parking lot
By Wang Xiang |
September 4, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AN extreme traffic jam is back on the Beijing-Tibet expressway, with more than 10,000 vehicles winding back 120 kilometers, only four days after a nine-day jam on the same highway cleared.
This is the second gigantic congestion since August 14 on the roadway from Inner Mongolia to Beijing. The fresh holdup started on August 27 and most of the vehicles stuck on the road were trucks transporting coal to southern cities.
The recent big jams were triggered by too many big trucks and too few roads. There are only four parallel roads in the same direction heading to Beijing and one of them, the No. 110 highway, is now under maintenance.
One truck driver told Beijing News he had spent three days and nights on the highway. The congestion has transformed the section of road into a big car park, public toilet and trash field.
Drivers complained to China Central Television that they could earn only half as much as they did before the big tie-up. But they were more exhausted because of lack of sleep.
"Even residents along the expressway extort us," a driver said.
"A cup of noodles was sold at 10 yuan (US$1.47), four times more than the shop price, and they charge us 2 yuan for a cup of hot water."
China's soaring demand for coal has boosted the number of vehicles on to the Beijing -Tibet expressway by 130 percent over last year, the report said.
More than 14,000 vehicles every day converge at toll stations at the east end of the highway to go through strict security checks to enter the capital city. In contrast, traffic was smooth in the reverse direction.
Despite the congestion, some truck drivers refused to take a bypass from Datong City in Shanxi Province and save several days because their trucks were loaded with coal from illegal mines. Checkpoints at Datong would detain their goods.
This is the second gigantic congestion since August 14 on the roadway from Inner Mongolia to Beijing. The fresh holdup started on August 27 and most of the vehicles stuck on the road were trucks transporting coal to southern cities.
The recent big jams were triggered by too many big trucks and too few roads. There are only four parallel roads in the same direction heading to Beijing and one of them, the No. 110 highway, is now under maintenance.
One truck driver told Beijing News he had spent three days and nights on the highway. The congestion has transformed the section of road into a big car park, public toilet and trash field.
Drivers complained to China Central Television that they could earn only half as much as they did before the big tie-up. But they were more exhausted because of lack of sleep.
"Even residents along the expressway extort us," a driver said.
"A cup of noodles was sold at 10 yuan (US$1.47), four times more than the shop price, and they charge us 2 yuan for a cup of hot water."
China's soaring demand for coal has boosted the number of vehicles on to the Beijing -Tibet expressway by 130 percent over last year, the report said.
More than 14,000 vehicles every day converge at toll stations at the east end of the highway to go through strict security checks to enter the capital city. In contrast, traffic was smooth in the reverse direction.
Despite the congestion, some truck drivers refused to take a bypass from Datong City in Shanxi Province and save several days because their trucks were loaded with coal from illegal mines. Checkpoints at Datong would detain their goods.
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