Severe Traffic Congestion: A Mind-Boggling 203.830 Km of Delays During Summer Vacation, According to ADAC
In the summer of 2023, German motorways faced a significant challenge with 122,686 traffic jams during the holidays. This number increased slightly in 2024, reaching 119,246 traffic jams, and surged further in 2025, with an estimated 116,020 traffic jams.
The A8 and A99 motorways in southern and northern Germany, respectively, were particularly affected. On the A8, there were 1,473 traffic jams per 100 kilometers, while on the A99, the number was 3,024 traffic jams per 100 kilometers, if calculated in the same manner.
The worst travel weekend in 2023 was from August 1-3, with 4,201 traffic jams, spanning a total length of 9,498 kilometers and lasting 4,721 hours. In 2025, the German highway with the highest traffic jam problem, measured by the number of traffic jams per 100 kilometers, remains undetermined, although the ADAC reported a total of 116,020 traffic jams nationwide.
Saturdays were the most traffic-heavy days of the weekend, on average. However, Fridays usually had almost twice as many traffic jams as Saturdays and Sundays in 2023. The Munich bypass on the A99 was the worst traffic route this year.
The longest individual traffic jam in 2023 occurred on the A24 from Schwerin to the Berliner Ring, lasting around ten hours and reaching a maximum length of 35 kilometers. In comparison, the total length of traffic jams on German motorways in 2023 was slightly lower than in the two previous years.
In 2024, the total length of traffic jams on German motorways decreased by around 1,500 kilometers compared to the previous year. The A3 had 1,245 traffic jams per 100 kilometers.
Interestingly, the weekend of July 25-27 saw a high number of vacationers in northern Germany starting their holidays and another wave of travelers from North Rhine-Westphalia beginning, which may have contributed to the traffic congestion.
Despite fewer incidents, the overall congestion increased in duration, leading to a total time loss of all traffic jams in 2023 being 119,233 hours. This represents a 7.6 percent increase compared to the previous year.
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