Imagine being stuck in your car in a traffic jam for a full day and making it just a half mile down the highway.

 

Now imagine being in that traffic jam for nine days.

 

That's the situation many drivers are finding themselves in in northern China where a traffic jam has been snarled along a 60-mile stretch of highway after a section of the road was shut down for construction.

 

Traffic in the region has been at a near standstill since the beginning of a construction project that's not slated to be complete for the next few weeks. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that newly opened coal mines have greatly increased the number of large trucks traveling on the roads.

 

Drivers have had to make due with roadside concessions opened up by local enterprising villagers, who are in some cases charging 400 percent retail for things like noodles and snacks.

 

Amazingly, this isn't a new phenomenon. In July, a similar jam backed up traffic for nearly a month.

 

It certainly puts even the worst American traffic jams into perspective. What's an extra hour or two on the road in the face of being stuck for weeks!? Pure craziness.