People travelling around the area of Donington Park from Wednesday this week - through to next Monday - are being warned they could encounter heavy traffic as thousands of rock fans arrive to take part in the annual Download music festival. And advice for festival-goers from National Highways is to follow the signposted routes around the area and not to rely on sat navs, to ensure smoother and quicker journeys.
The festival, which is the first full festival since 2019 because the Covid pandemic intervened, is expected to attract in the region of 85,000 fans and runs from Friday through to Sunday. But many of them will start arriving on Wednesday to set up camp and most will be leaving again on Monday morning. Headlining the festival this year are Kiss, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro.
Read more about Download Festival on our dedicated page
Jamie Tomlin, resilience planner with National Highways, which is dispatching extra traffic officer patrols and has worked with the event organisers to keep the roads moving as smoothly as possible, said: "If you are attending the Download Festival, when you get within a few miles follow the road signs and the instructions from the organisers rather than your sat nav as they will guide you on the correct route to the correct car park. There are changes to the traffic management plan this year so don’t be tempted to follow a previous year’s route.
"Campers can arrive on site from Wednesday, which will spread out the arrival times of festival-goers but surrounding roads are still expected to be very busy until the final departures on Monday, June 13.
“Our overall advice to all motorists is allow extra time for journeys in that area over the weekend, particularly if you are catching a flight from East Midlands Airport."
Other major roads in the area including the M1, A42, A50 and A453 are also likely to be busy. National Highways will use electronic message boards on nearby motorways to advise people of any delays.
Last year, a Government-sponsored pilot festival took place with just 10,000 people, which reduced any possible traffic congestion problems.
