News Every Day | 28 March 2024, 11:58

Map reveals the busiest travel routes ahead of severe delays over Easter Weekend

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Grant Falvey/LNP/Shutterstock (14275641a) M25 traffic at Swanley in Kent. Miles of queuing traffic as people head home from their Christmas holidays. Traffic is bumper to bumper from the Dartford Crossing back to Orpington at junction four on the M25. The Met Office has issued weather warnings for strong winds and rain across the UK as storm Gerrit hits. Christmas traffic M25, Swanley, Kent, UK - 27 Dec 2023 — Experts have predicted ‘carmageddon’ on Britain’s roads this weekend (Picture: Shutterstock)

Drivers are being warned to expect ‘carmageddon’ on the roads this week as millions of Britons are set to embark on their Easter holidays.

Motoring company RAC has warned that journeys on popular routes could take twice as long as usual as the bank holiday weekend coincides with the start of the Easter break.

Long delays are expected on Britain’s motorways as 14 million cars hit the roads, while airports and airlines are expecting numbers to finally return to pre-pandemic levels.

Whether you’re travelling via air, road or rail, here are the places expected to see the most severe traffic and congestion throughout the holidays.

Easter weekend travel chaos Metro Graphic — Easter weekend travel chaos (Picture: Metro Graphic)

Airport Chaos

Around two million Brits are set to fly away over the weekend, with Bristol, Edinburgh and Newcastle airports predicting record numbers of passengers.

Bristol Airport in particular says around 30,000 people are set to fly on Easter Sunday alone, with routes to Geneva tipped to be extremely busy.

Manchester Airport also said it was preparing for about 320,000 passengers over the weekend, 8% more than the equivalent last year.

Budget airline Easyjet also says it is anticipating its busiest ever Easter weekend, while Luton airport says it is expecting to see 38 passengers a minute on April 5.

Ryanair has also issued a warning to travellers that high winds throughout Thursday could disrupt air travel from London.

Meanwhile Glasgow airport says it has hired additional staff in order to deal with ‘three exceptionally busy weekends ahead’.

In many cases, airports and airlines say they are expecting the number of fliers to exceed 2019 levels.

?? Licensed to London News Pictures. 28/03/2024. Manchester, UK. Holidaymakers queue for check in at Manchester Airport's Terminal three. As the four-day Easter bank holiday weekend gets underway, millions of people are expected on the roads, at airports, and at ports. Dover is likely to see particularly long delays due to extra security checks following the Moscow concert attack. Photo credit: Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP — Airports are expecting record numbers of fliers (Picture: Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP)

‘Carmageddon’

A survey commissioned by the RAC and Inrix found that around 14.5 million journeys are set to take place over the Easter holidays.

Inrix transportation analyst Bob Pishue said that ‘drivers should be prepared for longer journeys than normal throughout the entire weekend,’ and predicted Thursday afternoon to be the busiest time to be on the road, as holiday travellers mingle with regular commuters.

The busiest routes are set to be the western section of the M25 between the M23 for Gatwick and the M1 for Hertfordshire where journeys from 4pm are tipped to take more than two hours- more than double their usual length.

The M5 southbound between Bristol and Taunton, and the M3 between the M25 and the south coast is also likely to see severe congestion, with journey times expected to take twice as long as usual.

To further complicate matters, a yellow weather warning for strong winds and snow has been issued by the Met Office, with conditions from Storm Nelson set to further disrupt travel.

RAC spokesperson Alice Simpson warned that the traffic and weather conditions ‘could be carmageddon’ over Easter, and said heavy traffic and ‘lengthy queues can be expected along routes to the usual hotspots’.

Passengers at King's Cross station in London. Problems with two Christmas rail engineering work projects are causing major disruption on Wednesday. Services at the southern end of the Midland Main Line between St Albans and London St Pancras are affected by a fault with the signalling system, while overrunning engineering work caused misery for many Southeastern passengers. East Midlands Railway said the signalling issue is preventing it from running services between London St Pancras and Luton Airport, meaning thousands of passengers risk missing flights. Picture date: Wednesday December 27, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story RAIL Engineering. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire — Major railworks are expected to cause severe delays throughout the country (Picture: PA)

Railworks bring more disruption

Trains are also set to face severe delays as Network Rail carries out engineering works on the West Coast Main Line, which runs from London Euston to Scotland.

Earlier this week, Network Rail’s strategy director Laurence Bowman said there is ‘never a good time to do the work we need to do’, but explained that a lower number of commuters over the bank holiday weekend gives them ‘the opportunity to do major work we couldn’t do in a normal weekend’.

‘We’ve got 493 different pieces of work taking place this Easter, most happening overnight,’ he added, ‘including laying over 8,000 metres of new rail and putting down over 40,000 tonnes of new ballast to support the tracks.’

The East Midlands Railway, which runs between London St Pancras and Sheffield, will instead be the main diversionary route for most travellers. A spokesperson for the compant has warned its services will be ‘extremely busy over the Easter weekend’.

Major disruption is also expected in rail services from Glasgow and Huddersfield, with the main trans-Pennine between the two destinations set to be closed from Good Friday to Sunday 7 April.

EMBARGOED TO 0001 MONDAY MARCH 25 File photo dated 07/04/23 of traffic at the Port of Dover in Kent as the getaway continues for the Easter weekend. Drivers are being warned over long delays as more than 14 million Easter getaway trips are expected to take place. The RAC said journeys on some popular routes could take twice as long as normal as the bank holiday weekend coincides with the start of a two-week holiday for many schools, leading to a surge in traffic. Issue date: Monday March 25, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story TRANSPORT Easter. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire — Queues at Dover port are expected to last for at least two hours (Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Dover Delays

Meanwhile, travellers planning on catching a ferry from Dover have been warned to expect severe delays and long queues at the port, with wait times estimated to exceed two hours.

In a statement, border staff pointed to the recent terror alert issued in France following the Moscow terror attacks as a reason for the delays, citing the need for increased security checks.

‘These measures may increase border processing times at the port,’ the statement read.

‘Please be mindful of this when travelling to the port and check with your ferry operator for arrival times.’

Around 20,000 cars are expected to travel through Dover’s port between Thursday and Easter, and a coach processing facility has been set up in advance in a bid to ease pressure on travellers.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.