Advice for road users driving to Download Festival and East Midlands Airport

The annual event is expected to attract around 75,000 people between Friday, June 13, and Sunday, June 15, with the majority travelling when the campsites open tomorrow (Wednesday, June 11) and visitors are also expected to still be leaving on the morning of Monday, June 16.

Ticket holders are being advised to follow event signage rather than rely on satnavs, and not assume the route or entry point they have used in previous years will be the same.

Additional parking fields, introduced at last year’s event, will be back in place with an increased number of access gates and people will be able to scan a QR code on their parking passes for live updates on car park availability and capacity.

In addition, the pickup and drop off points will not be in the same areas as the camping entrances to reduce congestion.

Headlining this year’s event is Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn.

National Highways will be dispatching extra equipment and resources including additional traffic officer patrols and is working with the event organisers to keep the roads moving as smoothly as possible. There will also be standby recovery in place .

Donington Park is located next to East Midlands Airport, four miles west of junction 23a of the M1 and five miles from junction 24. 

The M1, A42, A453, A50 and A38 are expected to see significant increases in traffic, particularly when everyone arrives on the Wednesday and Thursday and again when they leave on either Sunday night or Monday morning.

Anyone with a flight to catch at East Midlands Airport is advised to allow plenty of time for their journey, while other non-festival traffic may want to consider travelling at different times or using a different route.

National Highways will use electronic message boards on nearby motorways to advise people of any delays. 

For live traffic updates follow the @HighwaysEMIDS Twitter feed. The National Highways 24/7 customer contact centre team can also provide up-to-the minute information on 0300 123 5000.