World's longest traffic jam

Gridlock is a way of life for Chinese

For 10 days, drivers on the Beijing to Mongolia expressway have been stuck in a 60-mile tailback. Is this the world's longest queue?

* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 August 2010 21.32 BST


The trucks were parked up, bumper-to-bumper and mile upon mile of them. No one is going anywhere fast in what has been dubbed the world longest-lasting traffic jam, in China's Hebei province.

The motorway, part of the Beijing to Tibet expressway, resembles a giant car park – and has done so for the past 10 days. Normally one of the busiest – and noisiest – trunk roads in China, now the only sound that can be heard is the chirrup of the crickets in the nearby wheatfields.

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