Severe traffic warnings in place for this weekend

Due to the ongoing summer holiday season and the “crossover” of the end of July, beginning today the alert level will be ‘orange’ across the whole country, worsening to ‘black (the most severe)’ by Saturday, especially for those departing on holiday (“dans le sens des départs”), according to Bison Futé, the French name for the national traffic information system.

The Mediterranean ‘arc’ will be at ‘red alert’ - one up from orange, but not as severe as ‘black’.

To avoid the worst of the queues, which are expected to delay journeys by between four hours and 20 hours, drivers are recommended to not travel Friday evening or night, or during the day on Saturday.

On Sunday, the alert level will be back down to ‘orange’, especially for all drivers leaving on holiday.