The now weekly Friday with gridlocked traffic around Penrith is expected to be made worse this weekend with the bank holiday traffic adding to already stationary traffic on the A66 and M6 around Penrith.
A massive 17.6m leisure journeys are expected to take place by car this bank holiday weekend with drivers eager to enjoy the last long weekend before Christmas, new figures from the RAC and INRIX suggest.
The RAC expects traffic to build from Friday to Saturday with 3m getaway trips likely to take place this Friday 22 August, rising to 3.4m on Saturday (23 August). A further 2.4m are planned on Sunday and 2.7m on Monday, while an additional 6.1m drivers are planning trips at some point between Friday and Monday.
Although the overall number of getaway journeys is down on the record figure of 19.2m in 2024, it’s still the second highest since 2020 when 18.4m drivers said they planned to get away as lockdown restrictions were lifted.
The busiest times to drive will be between 10am and 7pm on Friday, 9am and 5pm on Saturday and 11am and 6pm on Monday. The best time to travel on Friday is after 7pm, whereas on Saturday it’s before 9am and on Monday before 11am. On Sunday, however, traffic is expected to be mostly free-flowing.
With the roads likely to get even busier if the UK’s spell of hot weather continues, the RAC is advising drivers to do everything they can to reduce the chance of a breakdown.
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