Do you complain about the traffic you encounter every day on your way home or to work? Imagine what millions of Chinese motorists felt when they were stuck for over 36 hours in an endless queue in Anhui province. It all happened at the Wuzhuang toll booth, the largest in the country with 36 lanes, where the cars turned into a river of red lights visible even from drones.
The images, spread on Weibo and Douyin, showed a sight as surreal as it was frustrating: a sea of motionless vehicles under the night sky. The reason? The return of millions of travelers after an eight-day long holiday that combined the National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival. An explosive mix that has made traffic a real case study for mobility experts.
The reasons for the record-breaking queue
Wuzhuang Toll Station, located at the intersection of the G40 Shanghai–Shaanxi and G42 Shanghai–Chengdu highways, has turned into the heart of the chaos. Despite its 36 lanes (12 incoming and 24 outgoing), the toll booth recorded peaks of over 14,800 vehicles per hour, numbers that not even the most optimistic could have managed.
The problem is not just traffic: it is a logistical collapse due to a series of factors. The “free passage” policy, which allows private vehicles to travel for free during the holidays, has prompted millions of Chinese to hit the road at once. An excellent idea for domestic tourism, but disastrous for traffic.
Between rain, typhoons and bottlenecks
Typhoon Maidem also made things worse, bringing heavy rain and further slowing down travel. Even though 66 new temporary gates and so-called “tidal lanes” were introduced to streamline traffic, the situation remained unmanageable.
Experts have identified other critical points: the natural bottlenecks created by lane merging, the lack of real-time coordination and, above all, the unpredictable number of cars on the road. The result? A gigantic 36-hour queue that transformed the highway into an open-air car park. The authorities then issued notices to stagger the returns, but the damage had already been done.
The “river of red lights” at the Wuzhuang toll gate is not just a viral event: it is a warning for all countries that want to promote mass tourism without adapting infrastructure. And the next time you get stuck on the ring road… think that at least you haven’t been in the queue for 36 hours.
In China, traffic caused by people returning home after the holiday was captured.
— Tansu Yegen (@TansuYegen) October 9, 2025
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