Millions of people have already left for Easter vacations, and transportation providers have warned them that they may have to wait.
Those in the Port of Dover queue had to wait more than 14 hours last weekend. This weekend, people only had to wait 60 to 90 minutes.
Saturday was projected to be the busiest day on the country’s highways, with approximately 15 million cars on the road.
The weather is expected to be dry until Monday, so moving around should be easy.
On Friday, the Port of Dover announced that freight traffic is regulated by its Traffic Assessment Project or Dover TAP. So overnight, freight movement had been “free-flowing.”
A temporary traffic management system restricts all automobiles traveling from the west on the A20 to Dover to 40 mph (64 km/h).
Around 12:00 BST, there was a line of about 500 lorries on the outskirts of town, attempting to keep the port from becoming backed up.
The Kent Resilience Forum, in charge of keeping the county’s roadways functioning, stated that Dover was “very, very busy” but that the situation was under control.
The port has previously stated that it was taking extra precautions to meet the increasing demand. One of these was the creation of additional sites where authorities could check coaches more rapidly.
The Port of Dover’s head, Doug Bannister, told the writer that the port had worked with ferry firms to spread the demand across three days rather than just one. As a result, he expected people to slow down around Good Friday evening.
Candice Mason, the founder of Masons Coaches, told the BBC that she hoped further precautions would be implemented at Dover for the bank holiday weekend and the rest of the busy season.
She stated once more that this must be done throughout the summer and explained that adjustments at the port caused last week’s delays.
Ms. Mason also stated that passports, in addition to the other checks, must be thoroughly examined.
After last week’s travel disruptions sparked a debate about how Brexit will influence the route, port officials said they conducted an “urgent review” with ferry operators and French authorities.
Long lineups at the port were caused by a number of factors, including poor paperwork processing since the UK left the EU, personnel numbers on the French side of the Channel, and more coaches than expected.
The French border police blamed the traffic delays last weekend on the Port of Dover’s administration. They claimed to have informed the UK side that they were allowing too much traffic through.
They claimed that every booth on their side was staffed “100% of the time.”
Police couldn’t handle the traffic resulting from Dover
A spokeswoman for the French Police Nationale told the BBC that the number of vehicles they were informed required to be processed was “mathematically impossible” to handle.
The lines were growing longer inside the port, but travelers were relieved on Friday morning because the terminal was not as chaotic as the previous week.
Even still, there was some concern as they approached the border crossing. Many individuals came prepared with plenty to eat, drink, and do in case they got stuck.
The police were out in force on the roads leading to the port to monitor traffic flow. This spared the community from becoming caught in traffic last Saturday.
The government believes they are better prepared than they were last weekend.
The weather shouldn’t make travel difficult over the weekend because it’s forecast to stay generally dry until Monday.
According to Gemma Plumb, a BBC weather forecaster, Friday will be “dry and fine with sunshine for most of the UK,” but there will be clouds in certain eastern areas.
Most of the sun will be in the west over the weekend. Rain will fall in various parts of the country on Monday.
The British Motoring Association (AA) predicted Saturday would be the busiest day on the roads, with approximately 15 million people expecting to drive. The RAC predicted that Friday and Sunday would be the busiest days, but “there’s always a potential that traffic will go up if the weather forecast is wrong.”
Traffic will likely back up on the M25, the M4 Wales heading into Newport, the M6/M5 interchange in Birmingham, and the M4/M5 interchange in Bristol.
The AA’s Tony Rich advised drivers to examine their vehicles before embarking on a vacation since many of the calls they receive might have been “simply avoided.”
Even the trains in the country are not running smoothly. Engineers will work on trains over the weekend, and one of London’s largest train terminals, Euston Station, will be closed for upgrades from Friday to Monday.
Read Also: Easter: Dover moves to avoid delays
Sophie Earish, a student from Wembley Park, claimed the lines to board trains at London’s Saint Pancras station were chaos. The incident was described as “mayhem” by writer Ruaridh Pritchard.
He stated that the staff was trying their best “given the circumstances,” but that “a lot of people were arguing and pushing” and that “it was like the last train out of Saigon.”
