HGV / Truck driving in France

On this page .......

Specific HGV info for France

HGV driving restrictions

Tolls and ecotax road charges

Secure HGV parking

► Other general pages and information about driving in France
French motorway tolls	Road numbers and roadsigns	Avoiding Paris
French motorway service areas	Speed limits & cameras	Routes from Calais
Filling up	French motorway and route map	Accidents

► Route maps - from Calais / Le Havre to the south of France and beyond

Routes to  southwest	Routes via Rouen	A10 Paris-Bordeaux
Calais to southeast:	A26 - routes via Reims

1. ► HGV driving restrictions in France

Additional Summer weekend HGV bans in France.

The weekend truck ban is longer from early July to mid August, when HGVs are banned from Saturday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and then from Saturday 10 p.m. to Sunday 10 p.m. In other words, during these July and August weekends, there is a 3 hour window of opportunity on Saturday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. for HGVs to reach their destination or get out of France to a country without weekend HGV bans (unless the Saturday in question is a public holiday - see below.)

HGV's are also banned on public holidays, normally from 10 p.m the night before, until 10 p.m on the holiday itself. The two big summer public holidays in France are 14th July and 15th August. When these public holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, Lorries are banned 24/24. 

Paris area HGV restrictions:

Further restrictions apply for HGVs in the Paris area,
HGVs cannot enter the Paris area on Mondays and day following a public holiday, from 6 a.m to 10 a.m),
HGVs cannot leave the Paris area on Fridays and days preceding a public holiday, usually from 4 p.m. onwards.
This means that trucks cannot transit via the inner ring road of Paris (boulevard périphérique) during these hours.

HGV restrictions on Alpine motorways

There are also extra weekend lorry bans on Alpine motorways in February - though given the traffic jams that are possible here at the time, these routes are best avoided by anyone not needing to use them - lorries or cars, ban or no ban.
Other parts of Europe: Note that trucks are also banned on Sundays in Italy, Luxembourg and Germany (full ban Sundays, part ban on Saturdays).  Trucks are banned in Switzerland on Sundays.

Weather conditions

Check out weather forecasts for France, specially in winter. With the general exception of western routes via Tours and Bordeaux, routes crossing France towards Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain (or Portugal) may be subject to heavy snow, notably in mountain areas (Alps, Vosges, Massif Central). Most of the time the snowplough teams will do a good job keeping traffic moving, but sometimes the snow falls faster than it can be removed.... and it just takes one jacknifed HGV to cause chaos...

 

Trunk roads not accessible to HGVs

There are a small number of trunk routes in France from which HGVs over 7.5t or over 19t. are permanently banned.
The most important of these are:

• The underground section of the A86 Paris orbital motorway, round the northwest of Paris (not just banned, but impossible due to height restriction)
• The A6 - A7 motorway route through the centre of Lyon (use the Lyon orbital routes)
• The N59 from Lunéville (Lorraine) to Sélestat (Alsace)
• The N66 from Remiremont (Lorraine) to Cernay (Alsace)
• The N73 from Chalon sur Saône (Burgundy) to Dole (Franche-Comté)
• The N20 between Linas and Massy on the western exit from Paris
• The D2020 (ex N20) south of Orleans to La Ferté St Aubin
• Motorways through the centre of Lyon (take the orbital routes)

In other places, HGVs may be banned from short sections of route, and obliged to use a nearby alternative.

2. HGV  motorway tolls

 

French motorway tolls for HGVs:

Most French motorways are toll routes. The price per kilometre varies from toll motorway to toll motorway, but generally speaking, for trucks or lorries it is between 18 centimes per kilometre and 35 cts./km
    There are two classes of tolls for HGVs : Class 3 tolls apply to lorries with two axels; class 4 tolls apply to vehicles with more than two axels - notably articulated trucks and semitrailers.
More information:

• Check out here for toll costs on principal routes through France.
• Check out these pages for no-tolls routes to southwest France 
• and no-tolls routes to Provence.
  
• and About-Spain.net - map of toll and free motorways in Spain

3.  Secure truck /  HGV parking areas on French motorways

There are a number of secure HGV parking areas on French motorways. Some are on service areas, others are a few hundred metres from the motorway. These areas provide secure lit parking for trucks 24/24 and 7/7, and are manned by security staff and watched closed-circuit TV cameras.

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Other useful sites:

• For more general information about France visit About-France.com
• For information on travel in Spain, visit the About-Spain.net Driving in Spain page