Pre-Christmas period means enormous traffic jams on German motorways each and every year. ADAC published which roads are expected to be the most crowded. Check the list of routes that should be avoided between 20 December and 1 January.
The German automobile club has provided a summary of routes on which heavy traffic and congestion should be expected during the holiday season. Easier driving conditions on these German roads will only occur after the New Year. The worst, according to ADAC, will be today (Friday 20 December), on Thursday, 26 December and Wednesday, 1 January. However, traffic jams should also be expected on Saturday, 21 December and Monday, 23 December. Also, on routes to and from the ski resorts, heavy traffic should be expected on Saturdays – 21 and 28 December.
According to the automobile club, Sunday, 22 December, Christmas Eve, Friday, 27 December and Monday, 30 December can be somewhat quieter on the roads. Also, ADAC does not expect significant difficulties on New Year’s Eve.
Roads, which according to ADAC, are better to avoid in the coming days:
- A1 Cologne – Dortmund – Bremen – Hamburg
- A2 Dortmund – Hanover – Braunschweig – Berlin
- A3 Cologne – Frankfurt – Nuremberg – Passau
- A4 Kirchheimer Dreieck – Erfurt – Dresden node
- A5 Hattenbacher Dreieck node – Karlsruhe – Basel
- A6 Metz / Saarbrücken – Mannheim – Heilbronn – Nuremberg
- A7 Hamburg – Hanover – Kassel – Würzburg – Füssen / Reutte
- A8 Karlsruhe – Stuttgart – Munich – Salzburg
- A9 Munich – Nuremberg – Berlin
- A10 Berlin ring road
- A24 Hamburg – Berlin
- A61 Mönchengladbach – Koblenz – Ludwigshafen
- A81 Stuttgart – Singen
- A93 node Inntaldreieck – Kufstein
- A95 / B2 Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen
- A96 Munich – Lindau
- A99 Munich beltway
Traffic jams should also be expected on routes travelling through neighbouring countries. The Austrian motorways Tauern (A10) and Brenner (A12), Fernpass will be more crowded by holidaymakers this weekend. Congestion may also occur at the entrance to Germany at the three motorway border crossings Suben (A3 Linz – Passau), Walserberg (A8 Salzburg – Munich) and Kiefersfelden (A93 Kufstein – Rosenheim). In Switzerland, traffic jams can be expected in the Gotthard tunnel.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons