Easter Bank Holiday roads to avoid and best time to travel

With the Easter Bank Holiday upon us, drivers have been warned they could face long queues on the roads as the weekend could be one of the busiest on record.

This weekend is expected to be busy due to the Easter break and the hot weather predicted the Mirror reports. An estimated 21 million leisure trips are planned for this weekend alone, the highest since the RAC began recording back in 2014.

This means more cars are on the road resulting in more traffic and potentially long delays. The RAC has a list of roads and the times you should try to avoid them this weekend and for Good Friday, it predicts this will be the busiest day of the whole weekend with 4.62 million leisure trips planned by car.

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RAC traffic spokesperson Rod Dennis said: “After two years of relatively quiet Easter bank holidays on the roads, our research suggests a return to traffic levels that are much more typical of this time of year, and it’s very possible this weekend could turn out to be one of the busiest for leisure journeys for many years.”

On Good Friday, the RAC warns that drivers should avoid busy roads between 9:30am and 7pm:

• M6 north J26 Wigan to J36 South Lakes around the middle of the day
• M25 clockwise J8 to J16 around late morning
• A303 approaching Stonehenge during the morning

Saturday, people should avoid these busy roads between between 10am and 2pm:

• A303 approaching Stonehenge around late morning
• M25 clockwise J8 to J16 around the middle of the day

Easter Sunday, people should avoid busy roads between 10am and 2pm:

• M25 clockwise J8 to J16 around the middle of the day
• A303 approaching Stonehenge around the middle of the day

Easter Monday, people should avoid busy roads between 12pm and 2:30pm, as well as the following:

• M25 clockwise J8 to J16 early afternoon
• M6 south J20 for the M56 to J16 Stoke-on-Trent early evening
• M3 north J14 for the M27 to J7 Basingstoke early afternoon

Avoiding Easter queues will be hard and sometimes cannot be helped, but there are a few things that could help such as planning ahead and leaving early. Dennis added that the earlier you leave in the morning, the more likely you are to “miss the worst of the queues”.

Breakdowns could also be a problem as queues could mean it takes longer for a recovery vehicle to reach a stranded driver. Checking your car before you leave is particularly important this weekend.