Road assistance company VAB has warned travellers to expect heavy congestion and traffic jams on the French roads as of Wednesday.
Almost two weeks into the summer holidays, people continue to flock to the south, which will result in French roads being more busy than usual, VAB warned in a press release.
Especially on Thursday 14 July, the French national or "Bastille" holiday, VAB recommends avoiding being around Paris, however, the chaos is expected to start on Wednesday already, as many French people already leave on an extended weekend earlier.
VAB expects this to extend into the weekend, which according to its "road busyness" calendar, will be a red Saturday, meaning there will be very heavy traffic compared to other periods. Sunday is expected to be a little busier than usual.
German roads, too, are expected to be congested on Saturday, especially in the regions of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, where the summer holidays start this weekend, as well as in the Northern Netherlands and Luxembourg, meaning more people will be hitting the roads here.
Finally, there will also be considerable congestion on the main roads towards the Italian and Croatian coasts and towards Northern Europe, according to VAB.
Related News
- Summer discount at French motorway service stations during holidays
- Summer road works start: Traffic disruptions in and around Brussels
Road works are also expected to further worsen traffic congestion both in West Flanders, where the construction season will start, and in Austria, traffic jams are expected on the highways Inntal, Brenner and Tauern, due to the closure of alternative routes.
Assistance abroad
The increased busyness on the roads is also noticeable in the number of breakdown calls VAB has responded to. Last weekend, it already had to handle 30% more such calls from abroad compared to the same period last year, of which almost half came from France.
"The Flemish people are going out in their cars in droves again, and we can see that in the number of calls," the company stated.
A third of the calls involved tyre trouble, including a flat tyre, almost twice as many (44% more) as in the same period last year. Calls due to engine problems and starting problems are also occurring more frequently, it said.
