Busiest day expected on European roads on Black Saturday, long travel time likely

Travelers on routes to popular European vacation destinations should prepare for large crowds and extra travel time on Saturday. The ANWB warns that this Black Saturday will be the busiest travel day of the summer. The peak of the crowds is expected around noon.

In France, the traffic service expects long traffic jams due to departing and returning holiday traffic. In addition, Parisians are driving en masse to the south, which can cause congestion on roads around Bordeaux, on the A7 between Lyon and Orange, and to and from the Spanish border. At 6 a.m., the delay on the A7, the well-known Route Soleil, was already two hours. On the Nancy to Toul section, traffic was delayed for an hour at 08:30 a.m. after an accident.

In Belgium, road works are underway near Liège, and the Cointetunnel towards Luxembourg is closed to vehicles with caravans. There are also departing and returning holidaymakers in Germany. In addition, a lot of road works are underway. On the A8 from Munich to Salzburg in Austria, there was already a traffic jam at 6 a.m., causing an hour of additional travel time. In Switzerland, the Gotthard Tunnel on the A2 is the biggest bottleneck. The waiting time here was 30 minutes at 07:30 a.m. but could rise to several hours, according to ANWB.

A 10-kilometer-long traffic jam occurred at the Karawanken Tunnel in Austria in the direction of Slovenia early Saturday morning, resulting in an hour-and-a-half delay. Traffic jams are also expected at the Tauern Tunnel and on the A22 (Brenner Pass). Austria is also expecting a lot of rain on Saturday with possible flooding.

In Italy, the A1 from Milan to Bologna is busy, at 07:30 a.m., the additional travel time was already 30 minutes.