You Thought You Had Bad Traffic?

Traffic around where I live can be miserable. At times when driving the beltway around Washington D.C., a normal 40 minute trip has taken almost three hours. Although, one time I just quit trying and went back home.

I read an article about China's Massive Traffic Jam which makes all of my experiences pale by comparison.

Here are some excerpted paragraphs.

A massive traffic jam in north China that stretches for dozens of miles and hit its 10-day mark on Tuesday stems from road construction in Beijing that won't be finished until the middle of next month, an official said.

Bumper-to-bumper gridlock spanning for 60 miles (100 kilometers) with vehicles moving little more than a half-mile (one kilometer) a day at one point has improved since this weekend, said Zhang Minghai, director of Zhangjiakou city's Traffic Management Bureau general office.

Some drivers have been stuck in the jam for five days, China Central Television reported Tuesday. But Zhang said he wasn't sure when the situation along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway would return to normal.

This kind of traffic tie up boggles the mind. I complain if I get delayed for more than about 10 minutes! And if you look at the pictures in the article--most of it is truck traffic. I wonder how the produce going to market is holding up?

It really helped put the three hours we were broken down in the U-haul truck on Saturday into perspective. What if we were only making a half-mile per day? It would have taken about a month to get to Patrick and Tina's new house. Ugh!!

I guess it kind of puts it all in perspective. In the morning on my way to work, when I hit traffic on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and slow down to 35 mph--I should be happy I'm not in China.

Oh, let me think--I am happy I'm not in China, anyway.

But reading this, I sure do appreciate living here a little bit more.