Holiday traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels

Published 27 August 2021

Holiday traffic in the UK is predicted to return to pre-pandemic levels with an estimated 16.7 million trips taking place between Friday 27 and Monday 30 August 2021.

The RAC is warning of long delays with the south west of England expected to take the brunt of the holiday traffic with an estimated 3.6 million trips expected to and from the region between Friday and Monday.

The figures suggest today (Friday 27 August) will see the largest numbers of cars on the roads with 4.3 million leisure journeys planned - a number that will result in a 25 per cent increase in delays compared to a typical day in August.

The RAC says many of the breakdowns its patrols will attend in the coming days are avoidable if drivers check their cars are ‘road ready’ before setting out. This includes checking tyre pressure and tread, checking oil and coolant levels and topping up where required.

The RAC surveyed 1300 drivers to establish car use trends for the bank holiday weekend. It also worked with transport analytics experts INRIX to identify areas where traffic will be heaviest. The 16.7 million trips will be higher than the 16.5 million journeys that took place in 2019.

National Highways says 98 per cent of major A roads and motorways in England will be free of roadworks over the bank holiday period. A total of 988 carriageway miles of roadworks will be completed (833) or suspended (156) ahead of the long weekend.

Bank holiday traffic hotspots

Date	Estimated leisure trips	Peak traffic levels expected	Quieter roads expected	Roads where delays can be expected (breakdowns or collisions can significantly increase journey times across the road network)
Friday 27 August	4.3m	11am to 7pm	After 7pm	M25 clockwise J23 to J28; M4 west J38 to J46
Saturday 28 August	3.3m	10am to 4.30pm	After 6pm	M5 south J15 to J23; A303 West Solstice Park to A36
Sunday 29 August	2.6m	11am to 3pm	After 4pm	M25 Clockwise J23 to J28; A303 West Solstice Park to A36
Monday 30 August	3m	12pm to 2.30pm	Before 11am	M5 north J25 to J15; A303 West Solstice Park to A36

Peak traffic and specific road data courtesy INRIX; estimated leisure trips data courtesy RAC

Comments

conman on 4 September 2021

Where's all these cyclists? Seems Boris has it wrong again. In Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has employed Chris Boardman as a cyclist guru to help spend millions of taxpayers money on cycle paths, there is one near me that must have cost a couple of million at least. It's nice to see it used by at least two cyclists. With the narrowing the roads and widening of pavements (why??) life for the cyclist is even more dangerous.

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