The motorways to avoid this bank holiday weekend

Get ready to queue: A massive 16.5m vehicles will be hitting the road over the bank holiday weekend, transport analysts have predicted

Transport data experts have calculated that 16.5 million motors will hit the road over the next few days as Britons pack up their vehicles to enjoy the bank holiday sun away from home.

And that ultimately means bedlam on some of the busiest routes in the UK.

Fortunately, a combined effort by the RAC and analysts at INRIX has provided a traffic crystal ball for drivers to dodge jammed motorways, with some predicted to have hour-long tailbacks between now and Monday evening.

Today and Saturday are expected to be the busiest on the roads, with a combined 9.4 million trips expected to be made by car over the course of the two days.

And bank holiday Monday alone will see another 3.7 million motorists using busy routes, according to the calculations.

THE MOTORWAYS TO AVOID THIS BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND
Date Number of cars on the road Busiest times  Best time to avoid jams Worst affected major roads Expected length of delays

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 M1 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 

Source: INRIX           

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Tourism bosses are anticipating the number of Britons making the most of the August bank holiday by taking a domestic short break or holiday will be the highest on record. 

With that in mind, traffic boffins have been crunching historical data and checked existing roadworks and major event calendars to name the roads it thinks will be the worst for delays.

Unsurprisingly, it includes the M25 – the motorway most notorious for queuing traffic.

The ring road around London going in an anticlockwise direction between junction 1 and 4 will have hour-long jams today, INRIX says. 

Bank holidays have historically been one of the busiest times for road trips, and this year drivers could even see record-level travel delays 

 Trevor Reed,  traffic analyst at INRIX

Already by 2pm there are tailbacks for six to eight miles, resulting in 45 minute delays, on this part of the M25.

The M6 south between junction 27 and 13 will have 60 minute tailbacks on Monday, the analysts believe. 

Routes to coastal resorts and countryside beauty spots are also likely to be among the busiest.

The best time to be on the road will be after 9pm, but that will be too late for millions of people travelling long distances.

However, traffic levels could spike even sharper, motorists are warned.

Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at INRIX, said the predicted great weather could result in record levels of queues.

‘Bank holidays have historically been one of the busiest times for road trips, and this year drivers could even see record-level travel delays,’ he said.

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

Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at INRIX, said the combination of great weather and a three-day weekend means traffic could reach record levels

Highways England, which is responsible for all the trunk roads and major motorways in the country has already taken steps to attempt to minimise the number of jams.

Melanie Clarke, customer service director at the highways agency, said just three per cent of the roads it manages will have roadworks in place over the course of the weekend.

But she also urged drivers to inspect their vehicles before they depart to make sure there are no obvious defects that could cause them to break down. 

This includes tyre tread depth and inflation as well as oil and coolant levels. 

‘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,’ she said. 

Motorists are being warned to check their vehicles before departing to avoid common breakdowns that could cause chaos on major routes

The RAC’s breakdown assistance rival Green Flag has forecast there to be 13 vehicle breakdowns per minutes over the next few days.

After reviewing previous August bank holiday requests, it’s expecting up to 138,000 calls and 77,000 incidents by the end of play on Monday.

It warned: ‘The bank holiday traffic is also likely to bring a higher number of traffic incidents; over the last three years, almost 42,000 traffic incidents have taken place during bank holiday weekends, with more than half (52 per cent) of incidents occurring on main roads. 

‘Alarmingly, for every traffic incident on UK roads, on average, 1.4 casualties will occur.’