Sunday is the first day of summer. In three federal states within Germany, namely Hesse, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, the vacations are a week away. Her is what this means: The Autobahn in large parts of former West Germany will be crammed.
That is because everyone will want to get to Spanish beaches, Dutch camping grounds or a certain Italian lagoon city. At the same time, Germans of Turkish origin and Turks living in Germany will want to visit their families in Istanbul, Cappadocia or elsewhere. Tens of thousands will go down there by car.
Most travelers from those three federal states will make a mistake: They will leave on Friday, June 26th, instead of waiting a few days. Obviously, this will have consequences on the Autobahn. There will be traffic jams, and vacations affected by them will regret they left this early.
Foregone Conclusion
Just a few days later, on Thursday, July 2nd, it is Bremen’s and Lower Saxony’s turn. Countless more motorists will probably think they can race to Barcelona at 150 km/h (93 mph). Once they hit the Autobahn in Germany’s north-western part and head south, they will be slowed down substantially by traffic jams caused by congestion, accidents and construction sites. Oh yes, Germans love refurbishing their Autobahn whenever absolutely everyone intends to drive to Izmir, Dubrovnik, Rome, Valencia, Porto or Bordeaux.
Then, on July 3rd and 4th, residents of the north-western state of Schleswig-Holstein as well as people from Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt will be on vacation. Will they congest the Autobahn too? It’s a foregone conclusion. Will they get stuck on the road and swear without interruption? Exactly. At this moment, nine of of sixteen federal states will be on vacation.
When Berlin, Brandenburg and Hamburg join the other vacationers on July 9th, things will get worse. By the time Mecklenburg-Hither Pomerania and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s largest state with 18 million inhabitants, start their vacations on July 13th and 20th, something will have hit the fan. And it won’t smell too good.
More Diplomatic
Germany’s automobile association, the ADAC, chose a more diplomatic parlance: “On Friday, July 3rd, and Saturday, July 4th, drivers should expect heavier traffic on highways in eastern Germany as the summer holidays begin in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia”, they say. According to the ADAC, July 17th will likely be a day of “traffic delays”.
Usually, the congestion is not limited to Germany. In Austria and Switzerland, Germans and expats living in the Federal Republic will get stuck in those long tunnels underneath the Alps. This will apply even more once the last two German states, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, are on vacation on July 30th and August 3rd, respectively.
Motorists on vacation can do two things to improve their situation on the Autobahn: They can either sell their rusty 3-series BMW and stay at home, or they might want to leave on a weekday other than Friday. This strategy will not keep them from getting stuck in pretty bad traffic jams, but it will spare them the worst ones.
Did we mention the congestion problem will repeat towards the end of the six-week summer vacations in Germany? Have a nice trip.
