The Return of the China Traffic Jam

[mike r]

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/09/02/the-return-of-the-china-traffic-jam/

The Return of the China Traffic Jam

It would appear that reports of the demise of China’s biggest traffic jam were premature. In a transportation game of Whac-a-Mole, the snarl has reappeared on a different stretch of the same highway that hit global headlines last week.

Some 10,000 trucks, mostly carrying coal, are stuck in a 120-kilometer (75-mile) snarl along a highway leading toward Beijing from Inner Mongolia, China’s state-run television reported Thursday. The state broadcaster said the highway was more like a parking lot. The jam is caused by traffic restrictions in neighboring Hebei province and worsened by napping drivers who don’t notice when traffic starts moving again.

Last week, authorities cleared up part of the jam closer to Beijing on the same highway, partly by closing the provincial border to new traffic. That just appeared to have relocated the gridlock away from Beijing and into Inner Mongolia. Even if this latest jam gets cleared up, more is likely to come until new rail lines and highways divert some of the coal cargo.

China surpassed the U.S. to be the world’s biggest energy consumer last year, and the bulk of that energy comes from coal. The government is pouring billions of dollars into expanding rail and road networks but is barely keeping pace with demand.