Motorists warned of summer road chaos

25 May 2005

BRUSSELS – With the summer holidays fast approaching, Belgian motorists must brace themselves once again for major motorway traffic jams.

The worst weekend is forecast to be 29 to 31 July, with Saturday, 30 July, predicted to be the most congested day of all, according to the Touring automotive association.

Touring has created a list of weekends ranked as ‘black’, ‘red’ and ‘orange’, Le Soir online reported on Wednesday.

A ‘black’ weekend will be characterised by dense traffic, including long lines of vehicles and long periods of total standstill for motorists. A ‘red’ weekend will have difficult traffic with some line-ups, while an ‘orange’ will have dense traffic with the possibility of line-ups.

To avoid the ‘black’ weekend at the end of July, Touring recommends that motorists depart on Thursday, 28 July, stay off the roads entirely on Saturday, 30 July, and make return trips on Sunday, 31 July, or Monday, 1 August.

‘Red’ weekends include 21 to 24 July, 5 to 7 August and 12 to 15 August.

‘Orange’ weekends include 1 to 3 July, 8 to 10 July and 15 to 17 July, albeit only on departure dates for the two first weekends. The weekend of 15-17 July, by contrast, has been branded ‘orange’ for return times only.

For more information, got to www.touring.be.

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Subject: Belgian News