This is a Chinese road with 50 lanes, where all the cars are stuck in a giant traffic jam. Don’t complain about Moscow

You’ve probably seen the photo above. And if not, then it shows a Chinese highway with 50 lanes.

But there are several nuances in this photo. Now let’s figure it out, the same thing actually happens.

Spoiler: it’s not fake, it’s a real road.

Short description

• What kind of road is this
  Where did 50 stripes come from?
  How the traffic jam appeared
  What happens on other days

What kind of road is this

The photo shows the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao toll road. This is one of the main Chinese highways that crosses almost the entire country from north to south.

The road is very popular and in demand. Usually it has 8 stripes, 4 in each direction.

The length of the route is 2285 km. Tens of millions of people travel along it every year.

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Where did 50 stripes come from?

There are toll points on the highway, just like on any other toll road. When approaching the toll point, the road begins to gradually regulate. First up to 20 stripes, and then up to 50.

There are 50 stripes at the back – that’s only in one direction. The route is determined in such a way that toll collection points are located at different points, depending on the direction.

If you look at the photo, you can see that all the cars are standing in one direction, and cars are driving in the opposite direction on the left on a four-lane road.

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How the traffic jam appeared

All these pictures were taken in October 2015. The plug was made for reasons.

Firstly, this day was a day off for the week-long celebration of the Founding Day of the People’s Republic of China. A large number of tourists came to Beijing.

In honor of the holiday, toll roads became administrations. Therefore, the traffic flow was much more natural.

Secondly, narrowing the bands from 50 to 20 became a real problem. The narrowing begins immediately after reaching the toll point, so everyone begins to change lanes, plus do not forget about the large flow.

Thirdly, such a traffic jam will not happen without an accident. I wasn’t able to notice the accident in the photos, but I’m sure it’s there. Even the slightest incident is enough to slow down traffic in the closing lanes.

The traffic jam lasted for several hours. Traffic was stopped in some lanes.

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What happens on other days

Usually there are no such major traffic jams on the highway.

But even on important holidays, when there are no traffic jams in the country on weekends. In truth, China’s Ministry of Transport taught a real lesson after the 2015 trials.

Almost 10 years have passed since that same traffic jam, and nothing happened during this time when we did not see.