The first and already busy Black Saturday on European roads: …

Many Belgians are returning from this weekend as construction holidays are drawing to a close in many places. So it will definitely be busy on the roads. For example, French traffic center Bison Futé noticed about 1,000 kilometers on the motorways last weekend. But there are some tricks to shorten your time in traffic a bit.

Departure on Sunday

According to the VAB, it is best to leave on Sunday. “Anyone leaving on Friday evening will not only have to deal with traffic jams during the holidays, but also with passenger traffic and freight traffic. In addition, traffic jams will start appearing on Saturday morning at 5 am in the most important jams, such as the A7 in Lyon, and therefore will remain In a traffic jam there,” it seems. “Whoever waits until 12 noon on Saturday to leave will get into jams when the traffic jams there clear, but on Black Saturday it can often last much longer than other Saturdays during the summer holidays. Moreover, you don’t get to a destination Your vacation is only late at night.”

You can usually drive on a Sunday without a traffic jam, which is an orange day in France. “The drawback is that you really lose out on a ‘weekend’ at your vacation destination.”

The fact that Sunday is the best day to leave also applies to your return to Belgium. “Sunday is an orange day for traffic back, so you’ll run into traffic jams at traditional jams, but it’s still a better day to drive than Friday or Saturday,” says VAB. Friday is an orange day, too. Make sure to avoid Paris between 2pm and 8pm. “On Saturdays, traffic jams start later and last longer than southbound traffic, so leave early so you can get past the A7 before 9am and avoid Paris between 2pm and 6pm.”

Driving at night?

The VAB does not recommend avoiding all traffic jams and going out on the road at night. “Accidents happen every year with travelers who fall asleep. Some people can handle it, but the vast majority cannot. If you are driving at night, you also miss the first day of vacation because the driver is then either asleep or too tired to do anything Something meaningful,” it seems.

Another option, according to VAB, is to book an overnight stay and split your trip in two. “Good idea to be vigilant, because you are well rested. Not for files, however. People who book a hotel stay often get up a little later, have breakfast first and only then leave, so that they end up in jams when the first traffic jams really do form. There are already jams Traffic around Lyon at 8am on busy summer weekends.”

(Read more below the photo)

Already busy on the roads

It is already very busy on European roads at the moment. Overview.

France

Friday is an orange day going south and also for the return of traffic. Currently, there is already very heavy traffic on the main holiday routes:

south:

1) Luxembourg – Lyon – Spain: 3 hours and 30 minutes late

• A31 Luxembourg – Nancy – Bonn: +10 minutes

• A6 Bonn – Lyon: +5 minutes

• A7 Lyon – Orange: +2 hours 15 minutes

• A9 Orange – Spanish Border: +1 hours

2) Lille – Paris – Bordeaux – Spain: 3 hours and 35 minutes late

• A1 Lille – Paris: +20 minutes

• A86 around Paris: +25 minutes

• A10 Paris – Bordeaux: +2 hours 35 minutes

• A630 Bordeaux – Spanish border: +15 minutes

3) Paris – Clermont-Ferrand (via A71): 1 hour and 25 minutes delay

4) For the Mont Blanc tunnel towards Italy: delay of 50 minutes

North direction:

1) Spain – Lyon – Luxembourg: 2 hours and 25 minutes late

• A9 Spanish limit – Orange: +35 minutes

• A7 Orange – Lyon: +1 hour 25 minutes

• A6 Lyon – Beaune – Nancy: +5 minutes

• A31 Nancy – Luxembourg: +20 minutes

2) Spain – Bordeaux – Paris – Lille: 3 hours 20 minutes late

• A630 Spanish border – Bordeaux: +40 minutes

• A10 Bordeaux – Paris: +30 minutes

• A86 around Paris: +25 minutes

• A1, A22 Paris – Lille: 1 hour 45 minutes

3) Mont Blanc Tunnel in Italy towards France: 25 minutes delay

Germany

In southern Germany, the holiday starts this weekend in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, so VAB expects heavy traffic in the south of the country. It will be busy again on the roads to Austria and Slovenia. But there is also a lot of return traffic heading north.

trend holiday destinations:

• A3 Cologne – Frankfurt: +35 minutes

• A5 Frankfurt – Walldorf – Karlsruhe: +30 minutes

• A8 Karlsruhe – Stuttgart – Ulm: +2 uur

• A3, A9, A8 Würzburg – Munich – Salzburg: +2 and 20 minutes

• A7 Hamburg – Flensburg (direction of Denmark): 1 hour 20 minutes

Return files:

• A7 Ulm – Würzburg: +1 and 30 minutes

• A8 Ulm – Stuttgart – Karlsruhe: +1 and 10 minutes

• A8, A9, A3 Salzburg – Munich – Würzburg: +1 and 30 minutes

• A5 Basel – Karlsruhe: +1 hour 15 minutes

Austria

This summer, the Karawankentunnel tunnel to Slovenia is the biggest bottleneck in Austria. This is due to strict border controls: tourists are only allowed through “official” border crossings, such as Karawankentunnel, Loibltunnel and Spielfeld (A9) from Austria to Slovenia and back.

Currently you have to wait 20 minutes in Karawankentunnel on the A11 towards Slovenia, but 40 minutes for those returning to Austria.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, we can clearly see that Italy is a popular holiday destination. Throughout the summer, there are regular long traffic jams in the Gotthard Tunnel in both directions. This, combined with roadworks on the A9 motorway near the border with Italy, sometimes causes very long waiting times. Because of the driving block applied to the Gotthard Tunnel, traffic jams often last all night from Friday to Saturday.

Italy direction:

• A2 Basel – Chiasso via Gotthard Tunnel: 1 hour 20 minutes delay

• A3 Basel – Gotthard Tunnel: +1 hours

• A2 Gotthard-Kiasu Tunnel: +20 minutes

• A3 Basel – Como via the San Bernardino Tunnel: 20 minutes delay

To Switzerland:

• A2 Chiasso – Basel via the Gotthard Tunnel: 1 hour and 15 minutes delay

• A13, A3 Chiasso – Basel via the San-Bernardino tunnel: 20 minutes delay

Italy

Italians are collectively choosing themselves for August to go on their summer vacation, so VAB also expect heavy traffic there this weekend. The biggest crowds are on the A14 motorway between Bologna and Rimini. It is also very congested on the A22 Brenner – Verona motorway, and roads around the northern Italian lakes and towards the Mediterranean and the Adriatic coast.

• A9, A50, A1 Como – Florence: 1 hour 45 minutes delay

• A22 Brenner – Modena: 40 minutes delay

• Tunnel A5 Mont Blanc – Turin: 1 hour and 5 minutes delay