712 km of traffic jams recorded across France on 15 August crossover weekend

Severe congestion on French highways

France's roads saw severe congestion on Saturday 15 August 2026, as the traditional summer crossover weekend sent holidaymakers onto the same routes simultaneously. Bison Futé, the government's traffic-monitoring service, recorded a peak of 712 km of cumulative traffic jams nationally, excluding Île-de-France, shortly before noon. The day was classified red across the country and black in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region for departures. It was also classified red for returns across the entire territory. Data for Île-de-France could not be transmitted due to technical difficulties with the regional road network operator, Bison Futé explained on its website.

Rhône Valley bears the brunt

The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region alone accounted for 135 km of cumulative jams shortly before noon, according to Bison Futé. The A7, the "autoroute du Soleil" linking Lyon and Marseille and managed by Vinci Autoroutes, was the worst-affected axis. A Vinci Autoroutes spokesperson told AFP shortly after noon that the main difficulties had concentrated from the morning, with a peak expected in the early afternoon.

“The main difficulties concentrated from the morning on the A7 with a peak expected in the early afternoon. They should dissipate from 4 pm.”

At midday, the journey between Lyon-Sud and Orange was estimated at 2 hours 10 minutes instead of the usual 1 hour 35 minutes, and 2 hours 40 minutes in the opposite direction. On the A9, also operated by Vinci Autoroutes, the Orange to Narbonne stretch required 2 hours 25 minutes against a normal 1 hour 40 minutes. From the Spanish border to Narbonne, motorists had to add one hour to the usual 45-minute drive, according to Vinci Autoroutes bulletins. On the A61 from Toulouse to Narbonne, travel times doubled compared with the usual journey.

Lyon-Sud → Orange (actual)130

Lyon-Sud → Orange (normal)95

Orange → Lyon-Sud (actual)160

Orange → Narbonne A9 (actual)145

Orange → Narbonne A9 (normal)100

Lyon-Sud → Orange (actual)

130 minutes

Lyon-Sud → Orange (normal)

95 minutes

Orange → Lyon-Sud (actual)

160 minutes

Orange → Narbonne A9 (actual)

145 minutes

Orange → Narbonne A9 (normal)

100 minutes

Data from the article text

Lighter disruptions in the west

Bison Futé's 12:40 pm situation update identified the A7, A10, A9, N165 and A71 as the most congested routes outside Île-de-France. On the western coast, disruptions were lighter and the only perturbations observed were on the A10. The stretch between Poitiers and Bordeaux required approximately 30 extra minutes on top of the usual two-hour drive in both directions. Motorists on the A63 between Bordeaux and the Spanish border faced similar delays for both departures and returns, according to Vinci Autoroutes.

Earlier peak and Sunday outlook

A previous peak of over 1,000 km of cumulative traffic jams had been recorded on 1 August, a day classified black across all of metropolitan France for departures. That figure exceeded Saturday's 712 km, though the 1 August classification covered the entire country, whereas Saturday's count excluded the Paris region due to the data outage. Saturday's 712 km figure was measured shortly before noon and represented only the count outside Île-de-France.

Sunday was expected to be calmer, with Bison Futé classifying traffic green on three-quarters of the territory and yellow for the southeastern quarter. No specific jam figures were provided for Sunday.