Infamous traffic jams etched in world history

The recent NLEx gridlock started as early as 6 a.m. when traffic flow starting from Meycauayan area in Bulacan was reduced to crawling speed of one to nine kilometers per hour. EDWIN BACASMAS

MANILA, Philippines–Next time you complain about being stuck in traffic, spare a thought for some of the unlucky drivers on earth who survived an experience worse than yours.

While the Sept. 5 ordeal at the North Luzon Expressway (Manila-bound) was nothing to cheer about, it pales in comparison to other traffic jams that will be mentioned in this article we compiled from various news sources. The recent NLEx gridlock started as early as 6 a.m. when traffic flow starting from Meycauayan area in Bulacan was reduced to crawling speed of one to nine kilometers per hour. This route only takes 40 minutes to traverse but that day, motorists had to endure four agonizing hours just to reach Balintawak in Quezon City.

The Sao Paolo, Brazil, gridlock a day before the city hosted the opening ceremony of the 2014 Fifa World Cup. AIG.COM

Sao Paolo, Brazil

June 2014

Imagine a traffic jam stretching from Manila to Batac, Ilocos Norte. Impossible you say? Well, this actually happened on June 11, 2014, in Sao Paolo, Brazil, just one day before the city hosted the opening ceremony of the 2014 Fifa World Cup.

The massive pileup stretched 344 kilometers and was due to an already chaotic traffic situation made worse by frequent street protests around the city that ran parallel to a strike carried out by those that work on the city’s metro (the rail system has been the main transport link going to Arena de Sao Paulo, one of the host stadiums of the 2014 World Cup).

The 100-kilometer long traffic jam in Beijing, China, that lasted an incredible 12 days. BIGGESTSTUFF.COM

Beijing, China

August 2010

Imagine being trapped in a 100-kilometer-long traffic jam that lasted for an incredible 12 days!

Unfortunately, this happened on Aug. 14, 2014, along China National Highway 110. There wasn’t a single cause for this nightmarish ordeal but instead a perfect storm of small problems adding up to a massive jam: Heavy construction along Highway 110 had reduced its capacity to 50 percent in many places. Then, the number of long-haul trucks increased significantly to meet demands the rail system couldn’t handle. Combine these with expected accidents and routine breakdowns (and nowhere to move the troubled vehicles) and you have a recipe for a traffic jam that spanned the countryside.

Street vendors exploited the stricken road users by selling them water at 10 times the normal price. Thankfully, the jam finally eased by the end of August.

The roads leading to Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the town of Bethel

August 1969

The 1969 Woodstock Festival was a four-day concert (Aug. 15 to 18) that involved lots of drugs, a lot of sex and nudity, and a lot of mud (created by the rain).

The problem was that Max Yasgur 243-hectare dairy farm in Bethel, New York, could only conveniently accommodate around 50,000 and not the more than 500,000 individuals who actually made it to the venue (another 500,000 tried but failed to reach the concert area).

Is the daily struggle along Edsa just about to make it to the record books? RICHARD REYES

The highways in the area literally became parking lots as people abandoned their cars in the middle of the street and just walked the final 32-kilometer distance to the Woodstock Festival. Traffic was so bad that the organizers had to hire helicopters to shuttle the performers from their hotels to the stage.

Paris-Lyon, France

February 1980

Due to a combination of bad weather and highway congestion, a legendary traffic jam developed outside Paris on Feb. 16, 1980.

As thousands were returning from skiing holidays in Lyon and the surrounding areas, some 18 million vehicles tried to enter the French capital. This created a 175-kilometer queue, which was then a world record for the longest ever traffic jam.

East-West German border

April 1990

April 12, 1990, five months after the fall of the Berlin Wall (the day when the East German government stated during a press conference that travel through the previously closed border to the West was open) marked the first Easter holiday in nearly 40 years that Germans were free to visit family on the other side of the border.

Some 18 million cars tried to escape East Berlin but ended up getting stuck in what has become the biggest traffic jam (by number of cars) of all time.

Moscow, Russia

November 2012

On Nov. 29, 2012, heavy snow battered the vehicles plying along M-10 highway— which stretches between Moscow and St. Petersburg. This created a 200-kilometer jam that brought traffic to a screeching halt for three days and forced Russia’s Emergencies Ministry to set up tents along the highway offering stranded drivers warm meals as well as psychological counseling.

New York City

September 2001

It was a scene straight out of a disaster movie: In the hours and days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, traffic came to a halt across the city as authorities declared a lockdown.

Bridges and tunnels were closed off, public transportation was shut down and a number of key areas of the city declared as no-go zones.

Sao Paulo, Brazil 

November 2013

Already dubbed the city with the world’s worst traffic jams, Sao Paolo recorded another horrific traffic jam on Nov. 15, 2013.

It stretched out over 308 km (the same distance if you travel from Manila to Daet, Camarines Norte) and was due to the holiday weekend that commemorates the Proclamation of the Republic.