Are you hitting the road on Sunday, August 17? Here are Bison Futé's tips for avoiding hours of traffic jams

Many drivers will be hitting the roads this August 15th long weekend, especially on Sunday. However, significant traffic delays are expected, so here's how to avoid them as much as possible.

It's the same thing every year. The August 15th bank holiday, with people returning to and departing from vacation and those leaving only for the long weekend, means the roads are very busy. We'd love to end the weekend or vacation by spending hours in traffic jams on Sunday! Unfortunately, Bison Futé predicts "very significant traffic difficulties." Sunday is classified as "orange" at the national level. Certain roads and schedules will be particularly impacted.

Traffic will be "very difficult in the Southeast," especially in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Mediterranean Arc, both for departures and return journeys. The A7, A8, A9, and A61 motorways will be particularly congested in the departure direction, as will the A6, A7, A8, and A9 motorways in the return journey. If you plan to travel to or from Italy via the Mont Blanc Tunnel, you'll also need to be patient.

And it's not just the South of France that will be affected by traffic difficulties. In the Île-de-France region, Bison Futé predicts "difficult" traffic on the return journeys, depending on the area. Several motorways will be congested, especially towards the end of the day: the A6, the A10, and the A13.

So to get through traffic jams as much as possible, Bison Futé recommends avoiding the busiest roads at certain times. On the way back, you should avoid:

• to reach or cross the Île-de-France region between 11 a.m. and midnight,
• the A63 motorway (between Spain and Bordeaux) between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.,
• the A9, between Spain and Narbonne from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and between Narbonne and Orange from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.,
• the A7, between Marseille and Orange from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and between Orange and Lyon from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.,
• the A8 (between Italy and La Fare-les-Oliviers) from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
• the A6 (between Lyon and Beaune) from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
• the A61 (between Narbonne and Toulouse) from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.,
• the Mont Blanc tunnel between Italy and France between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.

In the return direction, Bison Futé advises avoiding: the A7 between Lyon and Marseille from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; the A8 near Aix-en-Provence from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; the A9 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and until 5 p.m. for the section between Nîmes and Narbonne; the A61 between Carcassonne and Narbonne from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and finally the Mont-Blanc tunnel between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.