France sees heavy but manageable traffic as summer holidays begin, with A7 jam shrinking and 8 million travellers on the road
Bison Futé placed much of northern and western France under a red alert for departures on Saturday, the first weekend of the school summer break, as nearly 8 million travellers took to the roads.
Traffic classification
Bison Futé classified the Île-de-France, Nord and Grand-Ouest regions as red (very difficult) for departures on Saturday 4 July, the opening day of the summer school holidays. The rest of the country was placed under an orange alert (difficult), while return traffic was green nationwide. Vinci Autoroutes expected close to 8 million travellers on its network alone.
On heavy traffic days like this weekend, we expect nearly 8 million travellers over the course of the day.
On the ground
By midday, the motorway network was congested but without major black spots. The Paris–Lyon–Marseille axis saw scattered jams, particularly on the A6 north of Lyon and on the A7 from the Lyon exit to Orange, then between Avignon and Marseille. A large bottleneck on the A7 between the north of Valence and the north of Montélimar shrank from 46 km to 32 km between 11:30 and 12:30.
- A7 Lyon–Orange (normal)
- 1.58 hours
- A7 Lyon–Orange (actual)
- 2.83 hours
- A10 Paris–Bordeaux (normal)
- 4.5 hours
- A10 Paris–Bordeaux (actual)
- 5 hours
Vinci Autoroutes reported that the journey from the southern edge of the Lyon conurbation to Orange took 2 hours 50 minutes, compared with the usual 1 hour 35 minutes. On the A10 from Paris to Bordeaux, travel times were slightly extended, exceeding 5 hours instead of the normal 4 hours 30 minutes.
Accident on the A11
A four-vehicle collision on the A11 near Corzé (Maine-et-Loire) on Saturday morning caused a tailback of more than 6 kilometres. The gendarmerie said the accident was not serious and there were no injuries. Bison Futé had already placed the A11 between Angers and Nantes under a red alert between 12:00 and 14:00, though traffic in the area had been relatively fluid earlier in the day.
Advice and outlook
Antoine Goubert, head of the Vinci Autoroutes information centre, said traffic was building in line with forecasts and that the busiest peaks were expected between 11:00 and 14:00, which also coincided with the hottest part of the day. He advised drivers to prepare their journeys in advance, stay informed, hydrate regularly and take breaks.
For the moment, traffic is densifying in line with our forecasts, but we are going to arrive at increasingly tense sectors during the day.
Bison Futé predicts a much calmer Sunday, with the main congestion expected to be concentrated in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The Pays de la Loire is forecast to return to green across the entire area.
