It seems that many holidaymakers wanted to be ahead of the crowds. It was already very busy on the French highways to the holiday regions last night, the ANWB reports. Some routes became congested, causing people to get stuck in traffic. At the peak there was a total of 1015 kilometers of traffic jams.
In the Auvergne-Rhône-Alps region there was almost 300 kilometers of traffic jams and along the south coast there was a total of 125 kilometers of traffic jams. The French traffic information service advises motorists not to drive on Friday night or Saturday, but only on Sunday if possible, according to the ANWB.
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Holiday Paris started
The summer vacation for residents of Paris has now started. The ANWB expects them to flock to the south of France. As a result, there were traffic jams on the Route du Soleil in France all day yesterday. It can also get quite busy on the roads to Spain.
In recent weeks, there has been about 1000 kilometers of traffic jams in France every Saturday, says a spokesperson for the ANWB. “That was astonishingly high. In 2019 there was not even 800 kilometers of traffic jam on the heaviest day.”
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Don’t leave too early
Holidaymakers who are still driving to or through France should not leave too early. “If you get in the car at night, you run into the problem. The biggest crowds are around noon, so it’s better to leave a little later.”
The fact that it is busier than usual is due to the corona crisis. As a result, fewer people go on holiday by plane, and they actually travel more often by car.
It is also busy in the rest of Europe this weekend, because the summer holidays start in many places.
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In Germany, the holiday starts in the south of the country, which generates a lot of traffic towards Italy and Croatia. The holiday season is also starting in Italy, and it is getting busy around the great lakes in northern Italy, and on the roads to the coast.
Two hours waiting for the tunnel
In Switzerland there is a traffic jam in front of the Gotthard tunnel. Even in the night from Friday to Saturday you have to wait there, expects the ANWB, today the waiting time can rise to more than two hours.
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In Austria, it gets stuck at the border with Slovenia, where motorists have to wait an hour and a half to drive through the Karawanken tunnel. The highway between Vienna and Budapest is also busy, because of the Formula 1 Grand Prix that will be held in Budapest this weekend.
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