Suche
Mein Konto
Traffic jam chaos in summer: Over 203,000 kilometers of traffic jams on motorways!
In 2025, Munich's A99 was the most congested motorway during the summer holidays. A total of 116,020 traffic jams were counted.
Traffic jam chaos in summer: Over 203,000 kilometers of traffic jams on motorways!
The ADAC's current traffic jam report, which looks at the summer holidays in Germany, shows a mixed picture. During the twelve weeks of the 2024 summer holidays, which lasted from June 30 to September 14, 116,020 traffic jams were recorded on the highways. The total length of the traffic jams was an impressive 203,830 kilometers. However, compared to previous years, this number has decreased: in 2023 there were 122,686 traffic jams and in 2022 there were 119,246 traffic jams. This means a decrease of around 2.7 percent compared to 2024, as the ADAC reports.
How did all this affect the loss of time? Drivers overall lost around 119,233 hours due to traffic jams, an increase of 7.6 percent. This corresponds to about 13.5 years of lost time in traffic jams. If you compare the numbers with the higher traffic jams of previous years, a clearer picture emerges: In next year's peak season, the time loss will be below the 2019 values, but the statistics are only comparable to a limited extent due to a changed recording methodology, according to ZDF.
The traffic jam routes in detail
A hotspot for traffic jams was the A99 motorway, the Munich bypass, which had the highest number of traffic jams. According to ADAC, there were 3,024 traffic jams per 100 kilometers of highway. The A8, which runs from Karlsruhe via Stuttgart to Munich, followed closely with 1,473 traffic jams per 100 kilometers. The A3, which runs from the Elten border crossing via Cologne to Passau, and the A4, which leads to Görlitz, were also heavily loaded. Other severely affected routes are the A5 and the A1, which represent important connections between northern and southern Europe, the ADAC adds.
There was a particularly long traffic jam on June 29, 2024 on the A24 between Schwerin and the Berliner Ring. There was a traffic jam for around 35 kilometers and the traffic jam lasted almost ten hours. The worst weekend was from August 1st to 3rd, when there were 4,201 traffic jams with a total length of 9,498 kilometers and a duration of 4,721 hours. On the following weekends, the days with the most traffic jams were traditionally Fridays, while Saturdays were on average the least traffic jams, as the ADAC notes.
Why the highways were so full
The 4 percent increase in traffic volume and numerous construction sites were the main reasons for the traffic jams in recent months. As in the previous year, North Rhine-Westphalia was at the top of the traffic jam rankings in 2024: around 31.5 percent of the traffic jam kilometers, around 270,000 kilometers, were recorded in this state. This was followed by Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. This situation is a constant companion for travelers in Germany, who spend an average of 43 hours a year stuck in traffic jams.
The ADAC data is based on real-time data determined by Floating Car Data. This method combines position and speed data from truck fleets and smartphone apps to create an accurate picture of traffic conditions. The situation on the roads is often aggravated by weather conditions and holidays, as statistics from recent years show.
It is to be hoped that traffic conditions will improve for the coming summer holidays. However, the challenge remains - whether it's traffic jams on long weekends, construction sites or the ever-increasing volume of traffic - for many drivers, staying in the car continues to be a test of patience.