At 3:00 p.m. this Friday, March 22, the Special Traffic Operation of Easter begins, a device that the General Directorate of Traffic puts in place to ensure the safety and fluidity of road movements and that will take place until midnight next Monday, April 1, a holiday in Cantabria and six other communities (Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Basque Country, La Rioja, Valencian Community and Navarre).
The 16,550,000 expected road trips in Spain represent an increase of 1.5 million over the 2019 figures and 1% more than in 2023. This holiday period is one of the most complicated of the year, with an increase in the volume of trips that take place in a short space of time, with similar origins and destinations and made in the same days and hours.
As usual and by having it compete with the holidays, the operation takes place in two phases, coinciding with the largest number of trips and in which almost 90% of the planned movements are concentrated.
• The first phase begins on Friday 22 at 3 p.m. and ends at midnight on Sunday, March 24. In this phase, 4.2 million road movements are planned in Spain, of which 57,000 will take place on the Cantabrian roads.
• The second phase, more important than the previous one by volume of vehicle displacements throughout the road network, will start from Wednesday, March 27 and end on Monday, April 1. In this case, it is estimated that there will be 125,000 movements on the roads of our Autonomous Community.
According to the provincial head of Traffic, José Miguel Tolosa, the days, hours and sections of the most influx of vehicles will occur between this Friday and tomorrow Saturday, in the usual sections of the A-8 (eastern zone bordering the Basque Country, meaning Santander) and the junction between the A-8 and the A-67, in the surroundings of Torrelavega.
Likewise, intense traffic is expected during the afternoon of Sunday 24, especially in the A-8, eastern area sense Vizcaya.
During the second phase of the Operation, which will begin on Wednesday 27, a similar scenario is expected, with high traffic entering Cantabria until Thursday, and already during the afternoon of Sunday 31 towards the Plateau in the surroundings of Torrelavega, at the confluence between the A-8 and the A-67.
From the DGT they also report that intense traffic is expected during Monday, April 1 on the A-8, in the direction of Vizcaya, being festive both in Cantabria and in the Basque Country.
Tolosa has indicated that the DGT will have up to 180 agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard, as well as with the collaboration of Local Police of the different municipalities, personnel of the Northwest-Cantabrian Traffic Management Center (headquarters Coruña) and personnel of road maintenance and emergency services.
Thus, from the DGT it is recommended to check the condition of the vehicles before starting the trip and, as usual, drivers are asked to respect the norm by making use of the belt, respecting the speed allowed on the road or avoiding distractions while driving with the mobile.
Traffic also insists, when preparing the trip, not only to be informed of the situation of the traffic in real time and of the incidents that may exist, either from the Twitter accounts @informacionDGT and @DGTes, in the news bulletins on radio and television or on the telephone 011, but also take into account the possible alternative itineraries that help to avoid the most conflictive areas.