Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - This year too, travelers want to go home to their loved ones on time - the volume of traffic was correspondingly high. Long traffic jams were noticeable at the ADAC on Friday afternoon, for example on the Autobahn 6 from Heilbronn in the direction of Nuremberg with a 12-kilometer traffic jam and a 7-kilometer traffic jam. The Autobahn 8 through Stuttgart was also congested. "We currently have a very high volume of traffic," said an ADAC spokesman on Friday.
According to the traffic jam forecast, things will be more relaxed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But caution is advised on the second holiday - drivers are threatened with "slow-flowing return traffic," writes the ADAC on its website. "On this day, many Christmas vacationers return home from visiting relatives and families." However, to relieve the strain, construction sites in many places have been stopped for the winter months.
The railway routes in the southwest are also busy, and the trains are fuller than usual. However, according to the company, the railways took precautions and consolidated their network with 80 additional trains. This means that 40,000 additional seats would be available for passengers during the Christmas season. "The start of Christmas travel is largely smooth," said a railway spokeswoman on Friday. Similar to the motorways, construction activity has been greatly reduced.
