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Page added on June 8, 2011
Chinese Expressways vs US Interstates
The above graph compares the size of the US Interstate highway system (according to FHWA Table HM 220), with the Chinese Expressway system (according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics Table 16-4). Both series currently run through 2009. The notional extrapolation shown as the thin pink line suggests that the Chinese system will exceed the length of the US system sometime this year. We won’t know for sure until 2013.
Of all the different ways that China is overtaking the US, this seems like it might be a particularly psychologically significant one to Americans.
2 Comments on "Chinese Expressways vs US Interstates"
DC on Thu, 9th Jun 2011 12:18 am
And why does this even matter? Expressways are just huge money sinks. All they produce is staggering amounts of pollution, frustration and road rage. This graph doent show that ameriduh cant afford the road network it has, and that it is slowly deteriorating, even as they add to it. And china seeks to emulate that? Strange. Even stranger still, is that the author seems to think that the mere fact that a ‘foreign’ country(you know a country fulla not-amerikans), would have the temerity(or the stupidity) to build a road system as big as theres. That somehow this is mentally disturbing to the merikans is stranger still.
If anything, they should be saying “suckers!”, weve poisoned our land air and water and now were going bankrupt trying to maintain our car-fetish. They should take some comfort that the chinese are at least as dumb as amerika in soooo many ways.
draffen on Thu, 9th Jun 2011 12:29 am
China is arriving to the happy motoring club just as oil is peaking – bad timing!!!