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Ferienende: Volle Autobahnen im Norden

Holiday return traffic clogs German motorways

Ferienende: Volle Autobahnen im Norden

Based on reporting by Die Zeit. Independently rewritten from the facts into graded German by Mitlesen — not a translation of the original article.

The summer holidays are over in many federal states. That is why many families are driving home. On Saturday there were long traffic jams in the north. On the A1 motorway the jam was eight kilometres long. The ADAC says: there you need 30 minutes more time. On the A7 in Hamburg the traffic was very slow too. Many people are coming back from the coast. It will be busy in the coming weeks as well. At the weekend the roads are especially full.

Ferienende: Volle Autobahnen im Norden in English

Am Samstag sind viele Familien aus dem Urlaub nach Hause gefahren. In Schleswig-Holstein und in mehreren anderen Bundesländern enden die Sommerferien. Auf den Autobahnen im Norden wurde es deshalb am Mittag eng.

On Saturday many families drove home from their holiday. In Schleswig-Holstein and several other federal states the summer holidays are ending. So it got tight on the motorways in the north around midday.

Am stärksten betroffen war die A1 in Richtung Süden. Zwischen Scharbeutz und Ratekau standen die Autos auf etwa acht Kilometern. Viele Fahrerinnen und Fahrer kamen von der Küste oder aus Dänemark zurück. Der ADAC empfahl für diesen Abschnitt rund 30 Minuten zusätzliche Fahrzeit. Weiter südlich ging es zwischen Ahrensburg und Bad Oldesloe auf sieben Kilometern nur im Schritttempo weiter.

The A1 southbound was worst affected. Between Scharbeutz and Ratekau the cars stood still for about eight kilometres. Many drivers were coming back from the coast or from Denmark. The ADAC recommended around 30 minutes of extra driving time for this section. Further south, traffic crawled for seven kilometres between Ahrensburg and Bad Oldesloe.

Auch auf der A7 mussten Reisende Geduld mitbringen. Am Elbtunnel in Hamburg reichte der Stau in beide Richtungen etwa fünf Kilometer weit. In Richtung Norden rollte der Verkehr zwischen Warder und Rendsburg zeitweise auf zwölf Kilometern nur langsam. Die Verkehrsleitzentrale in Hamburg sprach trotzdem von einem ganz normalen Samstag.

On the A7 travellers needed patience too. At the Elbe tunnel in Hamburg the jam stretched about five kilometres in both directions. Northbound, traffic moved slowly for twelve kilometres at times between Warder and Rendsburg. Even so, the traffic control centre in Hamburg called it a perfectly normal Saturday.

Ruhiger blieb es in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Dort dauern die Sommerferien noch bis zum Ende der kommenden Woche.

Things stayed calmer in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. There the summer holidays run until the end of next week.

Wer in den nächsten Wochen unterwegs ist, sollte weiter mit vollen Straßen rechnen. Die Autobahn GmbH erwartet bis Mitte September mehrere Rückreisewellen. Am kommenden Wochenende beginnt die Schule auch in Hamburg, Berlin, Brandenburg und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Besonders belastet sind dann die A1 zwischen Hamburg und Köln sowie die A7.

Anyone travelling in the coming weeks should still expect full roads. The Autobahn GmbH expects several waves of return traffic until mid-September. Next weekend school also starts again in Hamburg, Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The busiest routes will then be the A1 between Hamburg and Cologne and the A7.

Source: Die Zeit — all-rights-reserved. Facts adapted into graded German by Mitlesen.

Cover image: “A23 Stau 1” by User:My Friend — CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons) — source.

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