Ljubljana - The Covid-19 epidemic initially changed people's travel habits making roads less congested, however traffic on Slovenian motorways has already almost returned to pre-pandemic levels as restrictions have been almost fully lifted, according to the DARS national motorway authority.

"Traffic on our motorways is about the same as it was in 2019, with freight traffic being slightly higher, which means that traffic flow capacity is slightly lower," says DARS.

Traffic is densest on Fridays after 3pm, especially in the northern and western sections of the Ljubljana ring road, but particularly on the Dolenjska-bound southern section.

Congestion is also typical on Friday afternoons in the direction of Primorska region, south-west, and in the opposite direction on Sunday afternoons or evenings.

The morning rush hour is usually a problem on the Štajerska motorway, north-east, as people are commuting to Ljubljana for work, as well as on the Ljubljana ring road.

The other three sections leading to Ljubljana - from Primorska, Gorenjska and Dolenjska regions are less of a problem in the morning hours, DARS says.

Traffic is strongly affected by holidays in Austria and Germany, especially on roads between Austria and Croatia, as a result of which congestion is frequent at the Karavanke/Karawanken and Šentilj/Spielfeld border crossings with Austria.

Traffic is also slower than usual when road works are under way at various motorway sections, with DARS having extensive renovation plans for this year.