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Traffic jam on the A9 in Saxony (June 2023): This is what it is likely to look like in many places at the weekend

Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa

According to the General German Automobile Club (ADAC), motorists in Germany will have to prepare for very full motorways in the coming days: one of the worst traffic jam weekends of the current holiday season is imminent, he warns.

According to the association, almost every trip could end in traffic jams at the weekend, because Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are the last federal states to start their summer holidays, while many travelers from North Rhine-Westphalia and Scandinavia are on their way home. The first effects are likely to be felt as early as Friday afternoon.

In the north, motorists have to be prepared for traffic jams, especially on the A7 motorway south and north of the Elbe tunnel, the ADAC announced. On the "holiday highways" it will go on the weekend sometimes only at walking pace. Even on the highways in the direction of Scandinavia, you need a thick time cushion.

"The return traffic is now likely to be even stronger than the arrival traffic"

In the south, the situation is no better: "On the Tauern, Fernpass, Inntal, Brenner and Gotthard routes as well as on highways to and from the Italian, French and Croatian coasts, traffic is likely to come to a standstill again and again in sections," predicts the ADAC.

"The return traffic is now likely to be even stronger than the arrival traffic," says the traffic jam forecast of the ADAC. The most heavily congested roads are expected to include, for example, the following:

  • A1 Bremen – Hamburg – Lübeck

  • Highways to the North Sea and Baltic Sea

  • A19 junction Wittstock – Rostock

  • A9 Halle/Leipzig – Nuremberg – Munich

  • A 95/B 2 Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen

The longest traffic jams are expected on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. If you are flexible, you should plan quieter alternative routes or switch to another travel day. Suitable weekdays are Tuesday to Thursday, the ADAC said.

bbr/dpa