The situation was worst on A7 from Lyon down to Marseille, when thousands of people on vacation tried to reach the Mediterranean beaches. But also on the highway A9 down to Spain, and on A10 from Paris out to the Atlantic coast, the traffic crawled forward during the day, according to Bison Futés live map on the internet.
French authorities estimate that Saturday will be the day with the most car traffic in the country throughout the year. Sunday is expected to be somewhat calmer. The next peak will come on Saturday, August 23, when just as many will go home again after the vacation.
On the railways, there are no queues, but the operator SNCF also announces very intense traffic there. Approximately one million travelers are expected to take French trains to the major vacation destinations such as Marseille, Lyon, Nice, Bordeaux and Lille during the weekend.
