Thousands of miles to ＂block＂ the way home

Xinhua News Agency, Changsha, February 17th (Reporter Shi Weiyan) Homesickness! Miss! Urgent! How much you long for a "go home".

Congestion Traffic jam! Blowout! Can you think of encountering a "blocking road that comes as soon as you say it"?

With the coming of Spring Festival travel rush, the number of expressway vehicles in China has increased dramatically. A section of "blocking" roads, either expected or unexpected, has trapped many people who return home for the New Year. The New Year’s Eve is approaching and the "home" is getting closer and closer. Is the highway carrying the hopes of self-drivers smooth or blocked? What is the traffic management department busy with? Can the eager wanderers arrive safely as scheduled?

    High-speed "hot" scenes are staged in many places.

Since February 4th, with the beginning of Spring Festival travel rush in 2015, the problem of "pendulum congestion" on expressways has once again been prominently placed in front of the "great migration" returnees.

According to the forecast of the Ministry of Transport, excluding buses and taxis, the number of passengers sent by Spring Festival travel rush in 2015 will reach 2.807 billion, of which road transport accounts for 2.42 billion, an increase of 2.5% over 2014.

Everything is as expected, and the traffic volume of high-speed vehicles keeps setting a new record. Only one week after the opening of Spring Festival travel rush, the number of road transport passengers in China exceeded 420 million.

On February 14th, just past Valentine’s Day, the hot high-speed traffic was just like a "preview":

In southern China, the Taimei service area of Huihe Expressway in Guangdong Province faces Jiangxi, and a large number of motor vehicles are crowded in the service area and the main highway, resulting in a serious backlog of vehicles;

In the eastern region, Hangzhou-Ruian Expressway is heading for Huangshan, and a large number of vehicles are blocked on the expressway, which has become a parking lot;

In the west, in Kunming, Yunnan Province, the traffic in Kunsong section of Kunqu Expressway is dense, with nearly 3 kilometers of vehicles stranded, making it the first traffic jam out of Kunming Expressway …

Due to the serious congestion problem reported by the masses, the reporter made a special trip to visit the Hunan section of Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, the main artery of north-south traffic in China. A remarkable phenomenon is that due to the huge traffic flow from Guangdong to the north, the traffic congestion can reach several kilometers to dozens of kilometers in a short period of time due to minor accidents such as car scraping or fewer lanes at toll stations.

Due to road congestion, many returnees are forced to rest on the highway and feel bored. A driver who returned to his hometown in Henan from Foshan, Guangdong Province told reporters that the road was blocked for half a day, and it was possible to meet the next traffic jam point within a few tens of kilometers. The old and the young were stuck in the car, and the children were hungry and crying.

The expressway service area is also difficult to cope with because of the huge traffic volume. Every service area along the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway northward is full of people, and the following vehicles can only queue up on the expressway because they can’t enter, further aggravating the congestion.

    When people are on the road, caring becomes the most beautiful scenery.

Fortunately, in the "blocking road" that may come at any time, there is a joy that comes at any time.

The reporter found that local traffic management departments have urgently adopted various measures to alleviate congestion, such as increasing toll collection equipment at toll stations, channelizing toll plazas, increasing obstacle clearing and charging equipment, and forcing vehicle diversion, and achieved certain results.

At the Yuebei Toll Station of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway in northern Guangdong, the reporter saw that there was only one toll window in each lane, and now two toll points have been added in the cold open air. In order to speed up the toll collection, people who were originally engaged in administrative work have all worked hard at the first toll collection site.

Huang Cao ‘ai, a toll collector, told the reporter that the toll collectors implement the "three shifts a day". In order to reduce the number of times they go to the toilet, they try to fill the water only once or twice when they are on duty. "Girl, your hands are too cold!" A passing driver accidentally touched Xiao Huang’s hand when receiving his change, and could not help but say with emotion.

Peng Jianhui, captain of the Dajing Road Administration Squadron of Yueyang Expressway, said that the road officials who divert traffic are under great pressure. Since Spring Festival travel rush, they have not rested for many nights, and what they are most afraid of is the traffic jam at night. At about 11 o’clock on the evening of February 8, the Dajing section was blocked. Although the road administration had dredged the traffic and called in two directions to remind the vehicles to resume traffic, the long-distance truck drivers had simply fallen asleep, and when the road administration personnel walked several kilometers to wake up the drivers, it was already early in the morning.

Many touching stories have also been staged in the embarrassment of "people on the road".

At 11 o’clock on the evening of February 12, Li Yangping and his wife, who were going home for the New Year from Guangdong, and Li Yangping’s sister and his party drove into Huaihua service area of Jihuai Expressway in Hunan. His wife felt a pain in her stomach and wanted to go to the toilet, so her sister accompanied her to the toilet. "I just made a bowl of instant noodles in the service area, and I got a call from my sister saying that my wife gave birth to the child in the toilet. I had to ask the staff in the service area for help. " Li Yangping said.

"After receiving Li Yangping’s help, on the one hand, we dialed 120, and on the other hand, we quickly arranged for two female workers to enter the toilet." Mr. Sheng, manager of Huaihua service area, said that after the staff provided the necessary help, they immediately began to clear the emergency passage to prepare for the ambulance to enter the service area quickly. About 10 minutes, the ambulance arrived at the service area, and both adults and children were rushed to the hospital at 120. Then, the staff in the service area made great efforts to help them buy train tickets back to Sichuan. Li Yangping said with emotion that after the way home in Hunan during the Spring Festival this year, it was full of love.

    Traffic "Big Data" Helps Home Road

Different from previous years, the fashionable "big data" is becoming a "treasure" to ease Spring Festival travel rush’s journey.

In order to scientifically guide the traffic flow, traffic management departments all over the country have quoted "traffic big data" and recommended driving routes with data and graphics. On February 14th, the Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Communications issued the Spring Festival self-driving travel guidelines. It is predicted that according to the characteristics of previous Spring Festival travel, the 16th and 17th are the travel peaks, and the 23rd and 24th are the return peaks. There may be congestion in Beihuan Expressway, Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, Guangqing Expressway, Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, Nansha Port Expressway and Airport Expressway. It is recommended that the owner bypass and travel at the wrong peak.

Xiang Yu, the person in charge of the "Nandamen" Xiaotang Toll Station in Hunan section of Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, predicted that the station will face great challenges after the holiday, and it is predicted that there will be "explosive growth", and the peak will be reached from the seventh day to the ninth day after the holiday, and the daily traffic volume is likely to exceed 50,000.

The insiders suggest that the transportation coordination and linkage mechanism between regions, especially across provinces, should be further improved on the basis of increasing investment in hardware facilities. In addition, increase the informatization of traffic flow guidance, set up electronic traffic flow display screens at key nodes of expressway, and scientifically and immediately guide vehicles to divert to smooth sections.

The road administration department has "three suggestions" for drivers stuck in high speed:

First of all, sudden deceleration or parking is the most dangerous, so you should always keep it in mind. When you need to stop or drive slowly in a high-speed traffic jam, you should turn on the double flashing lights to prompt you to come back.

Secondly, don’t turn off the fire and listen to music for a long time when there is traffic jam on the highway for a long time. Otherwise, the battery may run out of power and cannot be started.

Thirdly, don’t take the emergency lane at any time. Emergency lane is an emergency "life passage", which is a special passage for fire rescue, medical rescue and police to perform emergency tasks. If it is occupied, rescue vehicles will probably miss the rescue opportunity after the accident, which will further lead to congestion.