Summer holiday exodus could cause tailbacks over next few days
Summer holiday exodus could cause tailbacks over next few days
TRAFFIC on Spain's roads has multiplied now August is about to start and many companies shut down for the month, making it the favourite time of the year for holidays.
Foreign and Spanish tourists rise in number around the beginning of August and traffic heading in the direction of the south and east coasts is likely to be extremely heavy.
Around 2.7 million cars will be on the roads between this evening (Wednesday) and the night of Thursday, August 1, although this may continue through the weekend.
The most congested highways will be those through the central region of Castilla-La Mancha as hundreds of thousands leave Madrid for the coasts and countryside, as well as the N-roads and motorways of the Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia, and Andalucía.
Major highways heading for the ports of Almería, Alicante, Málaga, and Algeciras will be jammed solid from around the end of the first week in August, authorities predict, due to the outflow of Moroccan residents returning to the nest for the summer holidays after the end of Ramadan, on August 7.
Traffic authorities have restricted road-use for heavy-goods vehicles at certain times of the day between now and Sunday, and set up extra lanes where they can as well as digital information signs.
At least 10,000 Guardia Civil officers will be on duty in case of accidents.
They have also warned motorists driving through France that speed-cameras in the latter country are now equipped to detect the details of foreign cars, meaning those resident in Spain or the UK will get a fine at home if they break the limit, even if they are in a Spanish or British registered car.
Throughout August as a whole, the Spanish government expects around 42 million car-journeys to take place throughout Spain, most of these long-distance.
