Easter Traffic 2017.

Road users are being urged to plan their journeys carefully over this years Easter break, as more than 20 million cars are expected to be using the roads. Traffic forecasts for Thursday, April 13^th and Easter Monday are predicting a 20% increase in the amount of car traffic.

Anybody who regularly drives knows the frustration caused by endless roadworks, especially on our local motorway, the M5, which most travellers from Gloucester will use, will be carrying thousands of cars to the west country for breaks in Devon and Cornwall. This could become very congested, but with some planning, the worst of it could be avoided.

We are advised that the worst times to travel will be:

·         Thursday, between 4pm and 6pm

·         Friday between 10am and 2 pm

·         Monday between 12pm and 5pm

So, if you are heading out, avoid these times. Why not consider a night time journey, as it can be quite fun and all of the motorway services will still be operating? You will make good time, avoiding any congestion holdups and will arrive in a much better frame of mind.

Easter Sunday is expected to be the quietest day on the roads with 25% fewer vehicles compared with an average Sunday, so if driving at night does not appeal to you, this will be a good day to go.

Network Rail are carrying out more than 200 engineering projects around the country, delaying trains, so this will encourage more road use.

If you are lucky enough to have a flight booked, allow plenty of time to reach the airport, as all airport approach roads will be busy, some of them, such as Birmingham undergoing road works which can cause severe delays.

Some of 868,000 people are due to travel through Heathrow Airport between Good Friday and Easter Monday, including an extra 200,000 families compared with a typical Friday to Monday period.

Highways England said it has lifted more than 300 miles of roadworks ahead of the Easter getaway, meaning almost 98% of motorways and major A roads will be fully open, but some long stretches on the M5 and M6, our local motorways, will probably have a reduced speed limit, which can cause timing problems, so have that in mind.

Anyway, enough of the gloom, most of you will get away without many problems and we wish you all a happy Easter!

If you would like to know more about journey planning, or would like to get started on your driving lessons, call:

John Lowe Driving on 01452 313713.

Warm Regards, Tom and Lisa Lowe
http://www.drivinglessonsgloucester.org
http://johnrlowe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/easter-traffic-2017.html