Holiday getaway? You can Bank on traffic jams
Families face gridlock with 14 million cars set to choke British roads this weekend
DRIVERS will be delayed by at least an hour this Bank Holiday weekend as more than 14million cars hit the roads.
Motoring group the RAC warned there is ‘huge potential for gridlock’ on motorways and major roads as families across Britain head off.
In an effort to ease the congestion Highways England has promised to lift or complete more than 300 miles of roadworks – although this will still leave 129 miles of roadworks in place.
Analysis by traffic specialists Inrix shows drivers still face big tailbacks on many routes. Some of the worst delays will occur today as holiday traffic merges with the Friday morning and evening commuter rush.
A journey on the M5 from junction 4 to junction 1 this afternoon, which would normally take 21 minutes, is expected to take an hour and 21 minutes.
And drivers who brave the M20 in the South East are expected to make painstakingly slow progress between junctions 9 and 3 with a predicted journey time of one hour and six minutes, rather than the usual 22 minutes.
Tomorrow drivers are expected to take one hour and two minutes to get from Junction 22 to 25 on the M1 in the East Midlands. The journey would normally take 16 minutes. The RAC said one of the worst traffic hotspots today will be on the Almondsbury interchange at Bristol, right near its offices, where the M5 and M4 meet, as tens of thousands of drivers head for Devon and Cornwall.
RAC traffic spokesman Rod Dennis said: ‘While the late August bank holiday is not typically one of the busiest on the roads... it still has huge potential to bring gridlock to major roads, especially if we were to see the sun make a welcome comeback.’
Inrix says drivers should set off between 10am and 1pm today to avoid commuter traffic.
Those hoping for a more stressfree journey on the railways will be disappointed.
Huge swathes of Britain’s rail network will be out of action or severely disrupted by planned
engineering works and strike action. An army of 9,600 Network Rail staff will work across the weekend on 400 engineering projects and upgrades. The Government- owned company has advised anyone thinking of travelling on the West Coast Main Line to or from London not to travel because London Euston station will be closed. Passengers travelling across the UK to or via Derby Station will be diverted, delayed or forced to take a bus replacement service as a 79- day programme of engineering works to upgrade the tracks and signalling continues. Cross Country, East Midlands and Northern services will all be affected. Guards on Northern rail are staging a 24-hour strike tomorrow when more than 70 per cent of services will be cancelled.