Waiting games
The Olympics have not even started yet, but already one world record is under threat: that for the world’s longest traffic jam. The first day of operation of an Olympic lane on the M4 led to a 32-mile tailback from the edge of London to Newbury in Berkshire. These are the records to beat:
Longest jam Nothing has yet surpassed the 109-mile tailback on the A6 between Lyon and Paris on 16 February 1980, caused by Parisians returning home from their skiing holidays in poor weather
Longest-lasting jam A record set, appropriately enough, in Beijing — although in 2010, two years after the last Olympics. The 60-mile jam on a motorway leading from Inner Mongolia lasted ten days
Biggest urban gridlock London will have to surpass the record set in São Paolo on 1 June, when 183 miles of the city’s roads were blocked by rush-hour traffic
Losing the race
The 2011 census found that the population of England and Wales grew by 3.7
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