60-mile Beijing traffic jam expected to last until September 17

A 60-MILE traffic jam near Beijing is expected to continue until September 17, say officials who have been toiling to ease the congestion on the road to Inner Mongolia since upgrading work began August 13 on the Beijing-Tibet Highway.

Beijing traffic chief Zhang Minghai told the Wall Street Journal he didn`t expect the situation to return to normal until September 17 when highway construction ends and traffic lanes reopen.


The Beijing ring road has been closed, further tightening overburdened highway approaches to the capital in which vehicles move about a third of a mile a day.


As the jam on National Highway 110 passed its 10th day, local authorities dispatched hundreds of police to keep order and to detour vehicles carrying essential food or flammables around the main blockage.


Truck drivers say vendors overcharge them for the food as they occupy themselves playing cards. Driver Long Jie said his usual three day trip from the coal producing Inner Mongolia to Beijing was now taken him more than a week, meaning he will raise rates above his normal CNY12,000 (US$1,765), for a 30-ton truck load.


Overcrowding, as well as construction, is blamed for the congestion, which is chronic on major Chinese roads, brought on by vast increases in car sales, which surpassed those in the US for the first time last year.


China is racing to build new roads to ease the congestion, but that very construction is making traffic problems worse. Roads also suffer damage from overloaded trucks, especially along coal routes. Coal supplies move from Mongolia through the outskirts of the capital on their way to factories. There are few rail lines to handle the extra load.


While today`s massive jam is unusual, thousands of trucks are often found queuing along the main roads into Beijing.