National Highways has issued a travel warning to those heading out on the roads around the south west ahead of Glastonbury 2023. The world's biggest greenfield music festival is kicking off from Wednesday, June 21 until Sunday, June 25 which means the motorways and major A roads in the area are likely to be busy.
Drivers have been advised to allow plenty of extra time as the roads will be more congested than normal throughout the week as people make their way to Worthy Farm on Wednesday right through to Friday. Increased levels of traffic are also expected on Monday, 26 June as people leave the festival site.
With Pilton situated five miles outside of Glastonbury, festival traffic has very little impact on the town itself but drivers are advised that traffic is expected to reach its peak on Wednesday, particularly around junctions 25 and 23 of the M5, as festival goers make their way to the site. In previous years the A39 has been heavily congested by mid-morning.
Read more: Glastonbury Festival organisers list key items to bring to this year's event
The primary motorway route towards the festival site is the M5, with drivers exiting at junction 23 to take the A39 and A361, while the A303-A37 is also used for traffic arriving from London, with the A303 eastbound expected to be particularly busy from Podimore Roundabout.
John Ingram, National Highways’ Emergency Planner for the South West, said: “We’re reminding road users to plan ahead for Glastonbury – around 200,000 people are expected to attend this year’s festival and roads leading to the event are likely to be very busy.
“Our aim is to keep the National Highways network running while keeping festival goers and other road users safe and informed. We advise people to check our traffic and travel information channels, but whatever your journey, we advise people to set off early and allow plenty of time.
“And with temperatures expected to remain warm through the week, we’d also advise pre-checking your vehicles for oil, fuel and coolant levels and correctly inflated tyres, also to ensure you have plenty of drinking water for yourselves and passengers to stay hydrated, and take regular breaks.”
Real-time traffic information for England’s motorways and major A roads is available from the web at www.trafficengland.com or (when not driving) from a phone or mobile device at m.highways.gov.uk. Information is also available via local radio updates and also on Twitter at @HighwaysSWEST.
If you're driving to Glastonbury Festival, it is important to note that using your satnav will not get you all the way to the site, but to the start of the signage. You should also consider which car park you are heading to and which direction to approach from.
Organisers state the following as ways to get to the festival depending on where you are coming from:
- From south London: M3 then A303 and A37. (Sat Nav TA11 7DP).
- From Swindon: M4 then A350 onto the A361. (Sat Nav BA4 4LY).
- From the North East: A1 or M1, M25 to M3 (Junction 12), then A303 and A37. (Sat Nav TA11 7DP)
- From the Midlands: Preferably M40 and A34 to A303 and A37. (Sat Nav TA11 7DP)
- From the North West: M6, M5 to A39 (Junction 23) then A361. (Sat Nav BA6 9XE)
- From Wales: M4, M5 to A39 (as above) (Sat Nav BA6 9XE)
- For more local traffic using the A37 North or A361 East (Sat Nav BA4 4LY)
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