Cray cray
China has a lot of people. In fact, of the world's 7 billion plus population, the largest group and approximately
20 percent of all people, are Chinese. There are, as a result, lots of cars in China, and lots of people driving cars. China has 50-lane highways! The other day, that highway and all of those cars got into a
traffic jam:
Thousands of motorists found themselves stranded on Tuesday in what looks from above like a 50-lane parking lot on the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, one of the country’s busiest roads. Some are dubbing the traffic jam a “carpocalypse,” while others are calling it “carmageddon.”
Though foggy weather may have played a role, the real culprit is a new checkpoint that forces traffic to merge from 50 lanes down to just 20, according to The People’s Daily. Traffic was reportedly backed up for hours.
This happened a few years ago with a
74+ mile traffic jam. It lasted eleven days. Eleven. Days.
Below the fold, you can match up the Beijing traffic jam and the morning rush hour in Copenhagen where bikes are a thing. I am not saying the two are comparable but there's something a lot less stressful about watching (possibly?) an uncomfortable amount of cyclists versus too many cars...just...sitting around.
Morning Ebb And Flow from jim slade on Vimeo.