Overview
- ADAC forecasts severe jams on Thursday, April 30, as afternoon rush hour collides with getaway traffic for the long weekend.
- The highest risk in North Rhine–Westphalia is on the A1, A2 and A3, with Ruhr hotspots like the Kamener Kreuz and the Oberhausen/Duisburg nodes, while the south faces pressure on the A8 between Karlsruhe and Ulm and other alpine routes.
- Cross-border trips could slow on alpine corridors such as Austria’s A10 and A12, the Brenner route (A13/A22) and Switzerland’s Gotthard (A2), and spot border checks may add waits when entering Germany.
- Traffic authorities may activate temporary exit bans on Bavaria’s A7 and A8 during peak loads, and holiday truck bans on May 1 and May 3 will reduce freight traffic without clearing tourist queues.
- Elevated fuel prices may lead some drivers to skip or delay trips, the planned energy-tax cut is expected to filter into pump prices only over days, and last year the May Day start produced the third-longest jams of the year.