EAST/WEST
BORDER, GERMANY
April 12, 1990
18 million cars
The gradual opening of the East/West Germany border in late 1989 and early 1990 made the crossing a hugely popular destination for Germans eager to see the family members they had been separated from for decades. At the start of the first Easter holiday during which Germans could cross the border (and also the first time in 23 years that East Germans were given a four-day Easter weekend), more than 18 million cars jammed up along the border. The bumper-to-bumper congestion still holds the Guinness World Record for the most cars in a single traffic jam.
Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von/permission of G. Mach/Wikimedia Commons
PARIS/LYON,
FRANCE
Feb 16, 1980
108 miles
What happens when hundreds of thousands of Parisians and their families all decide to return from their Alpine ski chalets on the same day? Add a little bad weather and you get the longest reported bottleneck -- or, as the French would say, embouteillage -- in history, according to the Guinness World Records.
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