Media Relations Manager for the South West Neville Smith joked that planning ahead is the phrase National Highways “recite in their sleep” as he described managing Cheltenham Festival.
Smith commented: “For events like this, it’s all about traffic flows, traffic movements and just helping people for us.
“As soon as we lose capacity, if it’s one lane, congestions builds so quickly and thats not just festival goers impacted by that but the general travelling public.”
National Highways manage and improve the country’s motorways and major A-roads to ensure their customers have safer, smoother and more reliable journeys.
With Cheltenham Festival expecting over 200,000 visitors between the 10th-13th March, there are special preparations in place that include correspondence with local authorities and police.
“We make sure there’s enough traffic officers, strategically placed, so if there is an incident on the network, whether its the M5 or the A40, A417 even, we can either support police quicker or deal with those incidents quicker.”
The resilience team in the South West’s largest event to contend with is Glastonbury Festival, which this year is taking a fallow year; a regular break every four or five years to protect the site. But it is not always the motorways that pose the biggest issues.
“It’s out of our hands when they come off the junctions. Glastonbury, we do get increased traffic around junctions but its only the M5 really, maybe the A303. Once they’re into the country roads around Worthy Farm, that’s where it gets logjammed.”
Even without the added pressure caused by events such as Cheltenham Festival, National Highways insist that their customers follow the official diversion routes in the case of incidents or roadworks to stay safe.
Smith added: “We run into difficulties when we ask people not to follow their Sat-Nav and follow the official diversion routes. Sat-Navs are taking them into unknown territory… there might be roads which are totally unsuitable for certain vehicles.
“We’ve seen on the news, not necessarily on our roads, lorries can jackknife trying to get down a narrow local road which not only brings up safety issues but also impacts local communities.”
Regardless of where road-users are headed this week, Smith is confident that National Highways have enough information out there for them to make the right choices.
“With event travel, we try to point people to social media, to our customer care team. Not everyone uses social media, and shouldn’t when they’re driving!
“So having as many information channels as possible like Traffic England is important. It’s really a combination of providing as much information as possible and giving the public a port of call if they need it.”
Festival-goers looking to enjoy racing, bubbles and hopefully sunshine only need to follow a few tips, says Smith, to ensure their week goes off without a hitch.
“Whatever journey you’re making, you’ve got to plan ahead. [Know] the times the road is likely to be busier, where there may be roadworks which will add to your journey time or stress.
“In a nutshell, planning journeys is what we recite in our sleep here at National Highways. If you plan ahead, you’re informed and aware.
“Allow enough time to enjoy yourself driving, listening to the radio, discussing your bets: the important stuff!”
Looking for your race report fix? Head here to see our round up of every single race from the Cheltenham Festival
