Massive highway congestion grips China following holiday travel surge

During the recent eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, China's transportation infrastructure handled an unprecedented volume of passenger traffic, with official data confirming record-breaking figures. The Ministry of Transport reported an estimated 2.43 billion cross-regional journeys were made throughout the holiday period, culminating in a daily average of 304 million trips. This surge, which saw both cumulative and daily passenger flows reach new highs, inevitably led to severe highway congestion as the holiday period concluded, with returning travelers causing extensive queues and significant delays on major expressways.