With the Easter weekend around the corner, mobility organisations Touring and VAB have warned that European roads are expected to be very busy, particularly around key holiday destinations.
On Belgian roads, traffic will not be as busy as usual during this period, particularly as for this school year, the Easter holidays in Flanders do not coincide with those in Wallonia and Brussels.
In Flanders, schools are closed around Easter time, from 3 to 16 April, while the equivalent holiday for French-speaking schools does not start until 1 May. This is due to the changes made to the school calendar.
However, especially this afternoon and in the early evening, roads could get busier, especially as roadworks are going on in several key places (such as on the E34 and the E17 from Antwerp to Ghent, the main roads for going to the coast from inland).
Touring recommends leaving for holidays later in the evening on Friday, and from noon on Saturday.
On Easter Monday as people return from their trips, extra delays can be expected in the late afternoon and evening, especially on the E411 to Brussels near Namur, where fewer lanes are open due to roadworks.
Code red on roads abroad
Outside Belgian borders, heavy traffic is expected in popular holiday destinations. A "code red" is in place for the Ile-de-France and the Rhône-Alpes regions in France on Friday 7 April and Saturday 8 April, particularly on roads from Paris to the south (towards Lyon and Bordeaux) and the west (towards Normandy and Brittany).
Travellers should consider leaving on Thursday 6 April, or later in the day on Saturday. Traffic will be "less problematic" in other French regions.
The biggest disruptions in Germany are expected on the motorways to the north of the country and towards the Alps on Friday afternoon from 13:00 until 19:00 and on Saturday and Sunday from 08:00 until noon and between 16:00 and 20:00.
Routes with a high risk of traffic jams are the A1 from Cologne to Hamburg, the A3 from Cologne to Nuremberg and the A8 from Karlsruhe via Munich to Salzburg.
Traffic in Italy, Austria and Switzerland is expected to be busier than usual, with some delays, both on Friday and Saturday. Touring is even warning of code red on roads, tunnels and passes to the south.
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Specifically, VAB has warned travellers there is an "increased traffic jam risk" in the Tauern, Inntal and Brenner tunnels and on the Fernpass and Tyrolean routes, around Salzburg and Vorarlberg.
In Switzerland, the mobility organisation expects traffic congestion on the Gotthard route, the access roads to the ski resorts of Graubünden, the Bernese Oberland, Valais and Central Switzerland.
Finally, due to the return on Easter Monday 10 April, it will be "very busy" on all European roads, with a code red in place in Switzerland, the French Ile-de-France and north-west and a code orange in southern Germany, Austria and Italy.
