Europe 1 with AFP
modified to
4:58 p.m., July 23, 2022
A peak of nearly 800 km of cumulative traffic jams was recorded on Saturday on the country’s main roads used by holidaymakers, according to the Bison Futé website which had classified the black day along the Rhône in the direction of departures . The situation “is in line with forecasts”, indicates Bison Futé who recalls that this Saturday July 23 is classified red at the national level and black in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in the direction of departures, orange at the national level and red in the Mediterranean arc in the direction of the returns.
Recorded at 12:15 p.m., the peak of 789 kilometers is however lower than that recorded a year ago (930 kilometers). As expected, traffic was very dense from the morning in the Rhône Valley, where more than a hundred kilometers of traffic jams were recorded in the middle of the day on the A7, in particular in the north-south direction between Lyon and Marseille. .
“Traffic is extremely congested on the descent over more than 90 km in the Rhône valley”, warns Bison Futé. At the end of the morning, the traffic time between Lyon and Orange was estimated at 4h25 instead of 1h35 in normal times, according to Vinci Autoroutes.
At 5 p.m., traffic jams were still located on the A7, between Lyon and Marseille, or even on the A9, near Montpellier and Perpignan.
More usual traffic expected this Sunday
On the A10, also very busy, it took almost 8 hours or more than 3 additional hours to reach Bordeaux from Paris. The A9 also accumulated more than 100 kilometers of traffic jams in the middle of the day with a high traffic density in both directions between Avignon and Spain.
Sunday should be a calmer day, with “usual” traffic, except for some difficulties in the Rhône valley towards the sea “all day long”, according to Bison Futé.
Since the start of the school holidays, traffic on the motorways has been less important than in 2021 during the same period. The weekend of July 16 to 17, 800 km of traffic jams were recorded at the peak of traffic, while the 1,000 km mark had been crossed last year.