This morning, we had 630 km of traffic jams in our little country which measures less than 400 km north-south and 200 km east-west.

(source in Dutch)

(Google maps of the Netherlands to see the road network)

 

The reason? Rain. Just normal rain - not even a torrential downpour or a monsoon. Roads were not closed, and nothing flooded. The problem was just people who would normally take a bicycle, or walk to a bus stop or train station now all took the car. In addition, people generally drive a little more careful in bad weather.

 

A normal morning rush hour will have about 150-200 km of traffic jams.

 

How bad is traffic where you live?

I live in a mid sized american city and traffic is still pretty bad for 6-7 major hours of the day.

I live in New York City. I can afford to own a car, but I don't, because it is literally more trouble than its worth here.

I live in omaha, and the traffic at peak hours: 6-9, 11-1, 4-6 is absolutely terrible. The entire highway system gets clogged for 20 to 30 miles every day.

China has problems too, a couple of days-long dozens-of-miles-long traffic jams this summer just a week apart.

 

I try very hard to stay away from limited-access highways.

Edited September 19, 201015 yr by ewmon