Last weekend saw a 125-mile long traffic jam along the main highway between Moscow and St Petersburg which lasted for three days.
According to media reports cited by state-run RIA Novosti news, blame for the slow slog goes mainly to bad weather. The traffic headaches began Friday, when up to three feet of snow began falling in western Russia.
But according to the New York Times, some localities apparently decided to close the exits on the M10 highway. The ensuing traffic jam involved close to 10,000 vehicles, with drivers left to fend for themselves in the subfreezing temperatures.
Years of underinvestment on Soviet-era infrastructure have left the M10, rarely free of traffic jams on the best of days, prone to nasty bottlenecks in several small towns that lack bypasses. Hopefully this is some consolation to those of you stuck in traffic on Sydney’s Victoria Road every day!