The rhythm of human life keeps accelerating: we work faster, sleep less, eat on the go, but there are processes that resist the passage of time. One of the symbols of permanence and consistency is traffic jams. It’s unlikely that humanity will rid itself of this nightmare for car owners anytime soon, so we suggest exploring a list of the longest traffic jams in history and the reasons that caused them.
1 São Paulo (Brazil) – 193 km
We specifically don’t mention the road where this massive jam occurred because the city’s drivers are convinced that the entire place is just one big traffic jam. Of course, they’re wrong – on average, about one-fifth of the city’s entire road network is congested daily. The record was set on May 8, 2009, when several accidents occurred simultaneously in the city.
2 Lyon-Paris Highway (France) – 175 km
The second-longest traffic jam occurred from February 16 to March 16, 1980, when bad weather conditions complicated the return from vacations for thousands of French people. This jam became the longest according to the Guinness World Records, with the last cars leaving the highway a month after it started, while the “lucky” ones did so after “only” 12 days.
3 Houston (USA) – 161 km
In 2005, Houston faced not only massive destruction but also a megajam along the city’s evacuation route. Thanks to coordinated police efforts, the road was cleared in a day, avoiding casualties.
4 Tokyo Suburban Roads (Japan) – 135 km
The traffic jams that gripped Tokyo’s suburbs on August 12, 1990, were caused by a mix of factors: the end of vacations, the approach of Typhoon Wynona, and extremely narrow medieval streets in the capital’s outskirts.
5 Beijing-Tibet Highway (China) – 100 km
China’s freight highways are overcrowded – it takes just a small incident to trigger a jam. For 12 days in August 2010, 100 kilometers of the Beijing-Tibet highway were completely gridlocked. The unluckiest drivers were those who didn’t stock up on food and drink, as prices for supplies in the area increased tenfold.
6 Road on the Border of East and West Germany – 18 million vehicles
The reunification of Germany led not only to the reunion of its people but also to massive traffic jams. No, let’s correct that – HUGE traffic jams. On April 12, 1990, the number of “stuck” cars reached 18 million, making it the largest traffic jam in terms of the number of vehicles.
7 I-78 Route in Pennsylvania (USA) – 80 km
On February 15, 2007, Pennsylvania was snowed in, and several accidents involving snowplows blocked I-78. The unfortunate drivers were stuck in the snowy gridlock for 24 hours over an 80-kilometer stretch.
8 MKAD (Russia) – 60 km
The largest traffic jam in Russian history occurred in the last week of December 2015. For over 7 hours, Moscow’s MKAD ring road had a 10-point congestion rating, with average speeds on many sections of the road reaching just 2-3 km/h, caused by snowfall and Muscovites ignoring weather forecasts.
9 New York State Thruway – 32 km
The 1969 Woodstock Festival was remembered for its massive traffic jams, as thousands (up to half a million, actually) of music lovers hit the roads of New York. Most of them ignored police recommendations on optimal routes and ended up spending countless unpleasant hours stuck in a queue with other unlucky travelers.
10 Beijing Highway – 16 km
Not always is weather or a traffic accident responsible for multi-kilometer jams on the roads. Sometimes, people are to blame. For example, Beijing authorities, who in 2015 reduced a 50-lane highway down to 20 lanes with the installation of toll booths. Unsurprisingly, huge traffic jams instantly appeared!
