BEIJING, China — Driving at a snail’s pace along the 401 because of rush hour traffic is frustrating and can put a serious dent in the productive hours of a logbook.

But even averaging 20 km/h would seem like light-speed compared to what truckers and other motorists in China are facing along one of the country’s major routes. Try 3.2 km/d – that’s kilometres per day.

According to media reports, the world’s largest traffic jam stretches back nearly 100 km from Beijing to the northern province of Inner Mongolia.

More than 10 days in the making, the snarled traffic on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway – the main north-south highway into the Chinese capital – is being blamed primarily on road construction. Work began on Aug. 13 along the route and is not expected to be completed until mid-September, and it’s expected the traffic jam will continue until construction is complete.

The traffic jam has even given new meaning to roadside service. A local economy has sprung up along the highway as some people have seized the opportunity to make a few buck selling fruits, nuts, water and instant noodles to the stranded motorists.

The vendors aren’t working from the kindness of their hearts though. Truckers along the route, who have been killing time mainly by playing cards, have complained that the locals are taking advantage of them and selling food at inflated prices.

Traffic problems, however, really aren’t anything new to the Beijing region. According to a recent study by IBM, motorists in Beijing suffered worse “commuter pain” – a measure of the economic and emotional toll of commuting – than residents of Mexico City, Johannesburg, Moscow and New Delhi.