Late Bank Holiday brings more summer traffic congestion

With the August Bank Holiday falling late, heavy traffic congestion will start early this year, says Trafficmaster.

The usual August Bank Holiday traffic build-up is set to start a week early this year, according to Trafficmaster, the leading traffic information provider, who is predicting around a 30% increase in congestion on popular holiday routes on Friday 21 August 2009, compared with a “normal” Summer Friday.

With many schools in England & Wales starting their Autumn term during the first week of September this year, families are expected to take their last chance for a summer break a week earlier than usual and gain the Bank Holiday Monday as the last day of their holiday, rather than the first.

This coincides with a busy weekend in the leisure calendar as well, with the V-Festivals in Shropshire and Essex, air festivals at Bournemouth, Shoreham and Old Warden (Bedfordshire), and the football season now under way.

All this adds up to potentially one of the busiest weekends on the roads this summer.

Graham Smith, Data Manager at Trafficmaster believes the traffic build up will start early: “We are expecting to see heavy holiday traffic from mid morning onwards on Friday 21 August particularly around the M25 and then across all the major holiday routes. This will later mix with homebound commuter traffic from early afternoon into the evening. Add in to that traffic heading to the weekend’s music festivals and other events and we expect to see high levels of congestion continuing on Saturday 22 August as well.

“It is also likely that most major roadworks will still be in place this first weekend as well, although they are likely to be lifted for the actual Bank Holiday weekend. So, overall, people should leave plenty of time for their journeys and expect to see delays on major routes.”

Trafficmaster also predicts a similar congestion pattern on the actual Bank Holiday weekend, particularly if there is good weather, encouraging people to make a trip to the coast or other leisure attractions such as the Blackpool Illuminations switch-on and the Notting Hill Carnival. So it is likely to be a slow journey home on the evening of Bank Holiday Monday and probably over Tuesday 1 September as well.

The top congestion hotspots over 21 August and 28 August 2009 are expected to be:

M25 Western sector. Motorists will be heading out onto the M4 and the M3 to travel to the Hampshire & Dorset coast and West Country.

A31 & M27 from Southampton to Bournemouth and A35 past Dorchester

A303 across Salisbury Plain through Wiltshire and down to Somerset and the A30 into Cornwall

A3 through Hindhead and A34 from Oxford to Newbury and Winchester

M4 from London to the South West and M5 from Gloucester towards South Wales

M6 through the West Midlands and into South Lancashire

M56 and A55 into North Wales

M6 and M55 towards Blackpool and the Lake District

M1 through the East Midlands into South Yorkshire and A64 to the Yorkshire coast

A14 and A11 & A47 to Norfolk and the East Coast

Motorists can avoid unnecessary delays by calling the traffic and travel advice line, AA Roadwatch, provided by Trafficmaster, on 84322 or 'the AA' on a mobile phone keypad or 0906 88 84322 from a landline.

For more information about Trafficmaster go to trafficmaster.co.uk