Nearly 300km of traffic jams as French start long weekend

There were 291 kilometres of traffic jams on French roads on Thursday as motorists took advantage of the Ascension public holiday to take a long weekend.

Getty Images/Martial Colomb

“People are heading for the sun,” commented the national traffic control centre as cars lined up on the Paris ringroad and traffic on routes leading to the country’s main motorways heading south slowed to a snail's pace .

Traffic monitors put the country’s road network on an orange alert as weekending families whiled away the day on blocked roads.

Other trouble spots were:

• The Mont Blanc tunnel where drivers heading for Italy took 90 minutes to pass through thanks to a three-kilometre tailback;
• The A61 between Toulouse and Narbonne, where traffic was going slow over several dozen kilometres;
• The A7 between Lyon and Orange, where drivers added an hour to their journeys.

May is a busy month on French roads with no fewer than four public holidays leading to many families leaving their homes for long weekends away.