Coal-bearing trucks stuck in traffic for days

Police direct traffic on Monday along the road from Shenmu county of Shaanxi province to Xingxian county in Shanxi province. The truck traffic has lined up along the road for almost one month due to increased demand for coal over the summer. (Photo: China Daily/Zhang Youxiao)
Some 7,000 trucks carrying coal were blocked in serious traffic jams along the road from Shenmu county in Shaanxi province to Xingxian county in Shanxi province, with traffic police doing their best to try to break up the gridlock.

The truck traffic has lined up along the 100-km road linking the two counties for nearly one month, forcing the coal trucks to creep at a very low speed, said a driver surnamed Ma from Hebei province.

"I had been trapped in the traffic jam for five days and I could only drive some 30 km in the past five days," the driver was quoted as saying by Huashang Daily.

The situation has improved on Monday, as the trucks can slowly go through and the totally blocked sections of the road have been much decreased, Zhang Yong, head policeman of Shenmu county traffic police team said.

Although some 7,000 trucks are still blocked by the traffic jam, the speeds were faster than on previous days, as the police tried hard to make traffic flow, officials said.

The passage speed got up to 30 to 40 km per hour in some sections and the situation is expected to significantly ease one week from now, the traffic police officer said.

The two major causes of the traffic jams are the traffic volume, which is eight times the original designed road capacity, and the narrow roads in Xingxian county in Shanxi province, according to Wang Huaizhi, director of Shenmu county transportation bureau.

Source:China Daily
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