August bank holiday traffic warning as weather improves

By Gareth Roberts

21 August 2019

Fleets are being warned that the August bank holiday traffic is expected to be at its busiest on Friday, with five million leisure trips planned.

New research, conducted by the RAC and Inrix, says that Friday and Saturday are expected to be the busiest days, with a combined 9.4m trips on across the two days, followed by bank holiday Monday itself with around 3.7m separate leisure journeys.

However, given the weather looks set to be good over the bank holiday weekend, the reality is there may be even more trips taken.

Transportation analytics specialists Inrix indicates some of the worst major roads for delays will include the M25 anticlockwise (between J1 and J4) and the M6 north (between J18 and J24) on Friday, and the M6 south (between J27 and J13) on Monday, with delays of up to an hour on each of these stretches.

RAC patrol of the year Ben Aldous said: “For many people, this coming weekend is the last chance to enjoy a long weekend this side of Christmas – and with the weather improving that’s likely to mean a lot of cars on the road heading to popular tourist destinations.”

To help ease the congestion, Highways England announced that it will remove more than 480 miles of roadworks on motorways and major A-roads over the August bank holiday.

The roadworks will be lifted by Friday (August 23) meaning around 97% of England’s motorway and major A-roads, the strategic road network, will be free from roadworks.

Melanie Clarke, Highways England’s customer service director, said: “We’re doing everything we can to make journeys as smooth as possible and that’s why we’re keeping 97% of the road network we manage, free from roadworks.

“Safety is our top priority and we know from experience that almost half of breakdowns can easily be avoided if motorists carry out simple vehicle checks before setting off over this period.”

Highways England traffic officers will also be on patrol to help clear any incidents.

Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at Inrix, said: “Bank holidays have historically been one of the busiest times for road trips, and this year drivers could even see record-level travel delays.

“Knowing when and where congestion will build can help drivers avoid the stress of sitting in traffic.”

Guide to travel this August bank holiday weekend

Date	Planned leisure trips by car	Major roads likely to be particularly busy between	Best times to be on the road	Expected longest delays on major roads (breakdowns or collisions can significantly increase journey times across the road network)
Friday 23 August	5m	11am to 6.30pm	After 9pm	M25 anticlockwise J4 Bromley to J1 Swanscombe/Dartford: 55-minute delay around 3.15pm M6 north J18 Northwich/Chester to J24 St Helens: 54-minute delay around 2pm
Saturday 24 August	4.4m	10.30am to 2pm	After 4pm	M6 north J22 Newton/Leigh to J26 Liverpool: 21-minute delay around 3.45pm M25 anticlockwise J4 Bromley to J1 Swanscombe/Dartford: 21-minute delay around 1.45pm
Sunday 25 August	3.4m	12.30pm to 2pm	Before 10.30am, after 6.30pm	M25 clockwise J7 Gatwick Airport to J16 (for M40): 26-minute delay around 1.30pm A303 West Amesbury to A36: 22-minute delay around 5pm
Monday 26 August	3.7m	12pm and 2.30pm	Before 11am, after 6pm	M6 south J27 Wigan to J13 Stafford south: 61-minute delay around 2.15pm M25 anticlockwise J10 London/Guildford to J6 East Grinstead: 18-minute delay around 2.45pm
Total Friday to Monday	16.5m