We are at the gates of August, the month chosen by many citizens to enjoy their long-awaited and well-deserved vacations. The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) expects that almost fifty million long-distance journeys will be carried out during these 31 days, that is, more than half of the 95 million that it has calculated will be made this summer. Likewise, 8,780,000 of the planned movements will be carried out during the so-called “Special Operation August 1”, which runs from Friday, July 28, to Tuesday, August 1, at midnight.
During this period, drivers who are beginning their rest, those who return from having enjoyed it in July and those who have made a weekend sword taking advantage of the good weather of this time of year will coincide on the road. To facilitate circulation and guarantee road safety, the DGT has established a series of regulation, management and surveillance measures.
Among others, reversible and additional lanes with cones will be enabled in the hours of greatest traffic flow and alternative itineraries will be established. Works on the roads will also be stopped, the holding of sports events and other events that involve the occupation of the road will be limited, and the circulation of trucks in general and those that transport certain merchandise will be restricted in certain sections, dates and times.
Likewise, the organization headed by Pere Navarro recommends avoiding traffic jams that will be generated at the most critical hours. For this reason, he has indicated when and on which roads he considers that there will be a greater number of vehicles in circulation. Next, we detail their forecasts.
The greatest increase in vehicles will take place on Friday afternoon, mainly between 4:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. There will be traffic problems at the exits of the big cities, as well as in the main communication routes of access to the tourist areas of the coast and rest areas. To these departure movements due to the beginning of the August holidays will be added those that will take place at the beginning of the weekend.
On Saturday morning (from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) the intense traffic leaving urban centers and on itineraries that connect coastal towns, beaches and accesses to the coast will continue, as well as areas of second residence that may have traffic problems and withholdings on your accesses. In the evening, it will also be possible to observe movements of return to the big cities of those who finish their vacations in the month of July and bring their return forward to this day.
On Sunday morning the accesses to the coast and the roads that connect coastal towns with access to beaches will be conflictive and, in the afternoon, especially between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., the return of those who have enjoyed the end of summer week, as well as those who end their vacations in the month of July, presenting high traffic intensities and circulation problems in the main communication road axes that channel all the return movement from the tourist areas of the coast, rest and second residences , towards the accesses of the large urban centers.
On Monday the 31st, the usual movements in and out of large cities on a working day will coincide, with movements out (between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.) due to the beginning of the holiday month of August.
Finally, on Tuesday, August 1, there could be a greater intensity of traffic in the outbound direction (from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) due to the start of the tourist season for apartments, hotels and places of residence this month, which will join to the usual arrivals and departures at rush hour because it is a working day.
