Huge traffic jams expected for French holiday weekend
Thousands of motorists are expected to take to the road this weekend as the school vacation kicks-off for the Paris and Bordeaux region.
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Bison Futé, the transport ministry run organisation which monitors traffic conditions in France, has warned traffic will be particularly heavy on the roads leading to the south.
It has issued an ‘orange’ alert for the majority of the country, with a higher ‘red’ alert for the Rhone valley where thousands of skiers will be returning home after the first week of a two week vacation for a number of regions including Toulouse, Lyon, Montpellier and Nantes.
On Sunday traffic is expected to be particularly heavy around Paris.
The situation will be made worse by the Paris marathon. An estimated 40,000 runners are signed up for the race which starts at 8.45 am from the famous Avenue des Champs Elysees.
Meanwhile, a strike by air traffic controllers at Lille airport in the north of France on Thursday saw the cancellation of around thirty flight to Lille-Lesquin.
The strike was the third by controllers since the beginning of the year. They want more staff to cope with the increase in air traffic at the airport.
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