Anyone looking to drive in the south of Belgium ( and beyond) this weekend will potentially be in for a long wait due to traffic caused by school holidays, the start of the construction holidays and the end of the European Championship.
Here's what to expect, thanks to a warning by mobility organisation Touring on Monday.
In Belgium, the construction holidays start this weekend in most regions, meaning:
On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, there is a risk of traffic jams on the E40 towards the coast, the E411 towards the Ardennes, the E19 and the E17 towards Paris (orange). Traffic will be very heavy on Friday on the Brussels ring road and around Liege and Antwerp.
In France, the school holidays start this weekend, meaning:
Traffic will be challenging with queues on Friday in the Ile-de-France and very heavy traffic ("red") with slowdowns elsewhere in the country. Saturday is a red day all over France heading south, which means a lot of traffic jams.
Major problems are expected on the routes between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM:
- Paris - Bordeaux - Spain,
- Limoges - Toulouse,
- Paris - Clermont-Ferrand - Spain and Lyon - Orange - Spain,
By Sunday, the traffic flow will return to normal.
These traffic jams stretch into other countries:
In Germany and Austria, the first long queues of the summer are expected on Saturday, with heavy traffic with some slowdowns on Friday afternoon and evening (orange) in the departure direction. On Sunday, the traffic will be fluid (green).
In Switzerland, Touring expects heavy traffic with some delays before the Gotthard tunnel in the southbound direction on Saturday (orange).
In Italy and Spain, Touring forecasts fairly heavy traffic with some traffic jams (orange).
The Brussels Times
