Mass holiday exodus, long delays expected

ROME – Intense traffic snarls are expected in the last weekend of July as Italian holiday-makers make their way to summer destinations.

 Traffic police have designated Saturday and Sunday as red-stamp days, meaning motorists can expect intense traffic with the possibility of long delays. 

 Saturday Aug. 3 has already been declared a black-stamp day on roads and highways given drivers are certain to expect long delays.

 During the month of August, a black stamp has also been forecast for Saturday 10, while the remaining weekends retain a red stamp with particularly long delays forecast for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 due a mass return to big cities.

 These general guidelines, set out in State Police’s calendar, have been presented to the Interior Ministry together with the Traffic Plan for the 2019 summer season and contain the dates, assistance plan and useful information also to those who are heading outside Italy, in Slovenia and Croatia.

 Also in the Traffic Plan are 17 road work sites in Sicily that could cause inconvenience to local traffic - 15, which are undergoing extraordinary maintenance and upgrading, are on the A19 connecting Palermo and Catania, while the remaining two are on the A29 Palermo-Mazara del Vallo and the A19 Alacamo-Trapani.

 Road works are also slated for 10 motorway junctions – 6 on the RA05 Sicignano Potenza, one each on the 11 Ascoli-Porto d’Ascoli and the Perugia-Bettolle, another on the 01 Salerno-Avellino highway and lastly, the RA09 Raccordo di Benevento. The A2 Austostrada del Mediterraneo will be free of road works.

 According to data the Traffic Plan is based on, traffic is expected to jump 35 per cent in the two summer months, compared with the monthly average. This figure is in line with statistics from previous years. 

 Alarmingly, the victims of road accidents could register an increase of 7 per cent compared with the first months of 2019.

 To deal with problems and emergencies that arise during the next few weeks, Anas (National Roads Authority) and Aiscat (Italian motorway and tunnel operators association) have continuous 24-hour monitoring networks in place, using numerous vehicles and operators in addition to fixed cameras, control panels for variable messages and emergency contact numbers. 

 For all the traffic news in real time, motorists can download VAI – the Anas smartphone app – or call 1518, the toll-free number of CCISS (the road information coordination centre).

 cc