Italy is preparing for a weekend of extremely heavy traffic as the first major travel wave of the summer begins. According to estimates by the Anas traffic monitoring center "Osservatorio Mobilità Stradale", a total of over 273 million vehicle movements are expected on the roads and highways between July 25 and August 31, including 13,247,000 this weekend alone. Anas warns that even worse traffic conditions lie ahead in August, with "Bollino Nero" (highest warning level) on August 2 and 9.
Viabilità Italia has raised the red flag for this Friday afternoon, July 25, as well as for Saturday morning, July 26, and Sunday afternoon, July 27. This applies both to the wave of departures from the major conurbations towards vacation resorts and the coast and to return journeys on Sunday afternoon. The mornings of August 2 and 9 are also particularly critical days with "Bollino Rosso" (second-highest warning level). The complete traffic light calendar for the summer is available on the Anas and Viabilità Italia websites.
The main traffic routes heading south to vacation destinations on the Adriatic coast, the Tyrrhenian coast and the Ionian coast are particularly affected. Traffic will also be tight at the border crossings to France, Slovenia and Croatia as well as at the exits from the urban centers. Heavy traffic congestion is to be expected around the major cities late on Sunday afternoon, when people are returning from the weekend.
Among the routes at risk are the A2 "Autostrada del Mediterraneo", the SS106 Jonica and SS18 Tirrena Inferiore state roads in Calabria, the A19 Palermo-Catania and A29 Palermo-Mazara del Vallo highways in Sicily and the SS131 Carlo Felice in Sardinia. In Lazio, the SS148 Pontina and SS7 Appia are particularly busy. The E45 (SS675 and SS3 bis) through Umbria, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, the SS1 Aurelia and the SS16 Adriatica are also affected. In the north, the RA13 and RA14 freeway junctions in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the SS36 on Lake Como, the SS45 in the Trebbia Valley, the SS26 in the Aosta Valley, the SS309 Romea, the A22 Brennero freeway and the SS51 Alemagna are among the bottleneck areas.
To ease traffic congestion, heavy vehicles will be banned on Friday, July 25, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., on Saturday, July 26, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday, July 27, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
