Holiday
Travel to Corpus Christi and the end of the holiday as an “endurance test”
Cars are jammed on the A3 at the Kaiserberg junction. Before the long weekend around Corpus Christi, it will be full again on North Rhine-Westphalia’s motorways. photo
© Roland Weihrauch/dpa
The roads are likely to get crowded in the coming days, with traffic jams to be expected according to the ADAC. What is the reason for that?
Motorists must expect massive traffic jams on German autobahns over the long weekend. Short vacationers meet travelers returning, because the Pentecost holidays end in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria on Sunday. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the last day of Pentecost was already on Wednesday. The constellation of the end of the holiday and the holiday of Corpus Christi in several federal states will become an “endurance test”, according to the ADAC. Traffic has almost reached the pre-corona level again, said a spokesman for the General German Automobile Club in Munich on Wednesday.
Because of the holiday, massive traffic disruptions by short vacationers were expected, especially on Wednesday afternoon. In addition, there is the excursion traffic to the tourist local recreation destinations on Corpus Christi.
The ADAC experts are expecting the peak in travel traffic on Saturday, when many holidaymakers will be returning from the two-week Pentecost holidays. But Sunday could also be full of traffic jams when many day trippers return and the usual commuter traffic starts again.
The traffic jams include all trunk roads heading north around the metropolitan areas of Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main. The ADAC expects delays on the A1, A3, A5, A6 and A8 motorways, among others. Drivers also have to be prepared for delays on the trunk roads towards the North and Baltic Seas.
Likewise, travelers in neighboring countries must reckon with increased travel on the classic holiday routes. In particular, disruptions are expected on the Brenner autobahn and the Gotthard route. Deutsche Bahn also expects its trains to be heavily used. Exact figures were not available on Wednesday.