With descriptions ranging from breath-taking to bedazzling and world-class to wonderful, why spoil your experience of the UK’s largest light festival by worrying about how to get there?

Lumiere returns to Durham for the fourth time November 12th to 15th, and tens of thousands of people are expected to enjoy another spectacular show, which includes 28 art works.

The festival is an Artichoke production, commissioned by Durham County Council, and to help visitors make the most of the occasion, there will be:

• Extra and extended Park and Ride facilities – £2 per person.
• Additional bus services.
• A live traffic and travel feed from 2pm until 11pm on each of the four days using #lumieredurham.
• Limited Park and Stride facility at County Hall and DLI (expected to be very busy very early. We strongly advise people to use Park and Ride services).

Dave Wafer, strategic traffic manager at the council, said: “This year we have more than 6,000 Park and Ride spaces available. These include two additional temporary sites at Merryoaks on the A167 and at New College to the north of County Hall. Merryoaks alone can take 2,500 cars.

“Throughout the event we will provide a live traffic and travel feed using #lumieredurham on Facebook and Twitter. This will include information on which Park and Ride sites have spaces, specific highways or traffic issues, major road closure reminders as well as answering as many questions as we can from the public.

“We hope that together these measures will help people get the most from this fantastic event.”

More information on all the traffic and travel options, including the additional bus services and operating times for Park and Ride, can be found here www.durham.gov.uk/lumiere.

During the festival there will also be some significant road closures and restrictions.

On Milburngate Bridge one lane will be closed eastbound for the duration of the festival. This is necessary to keep the many thousands of spectators expected as safe as possible as they cross the bridge.

Barriers will be put in place to separate pedestrians and motorists using the bridge. Unfortunately this will involve closing the eastbound carriageway overnight on Wednesday November 11th from 8pm, so they can be safely installed. The bridge will also close in an eastbound direction overnight on Sunday 15th November so the barriers can be removed before Monday morning traffic.

This year a section of the A690 – between Milburngate roundabout and North Road Roundabout (next to the viaduct) – will be closed from 4pm each day of the festival. This includes the roundabout, which will only allow access for buses. Alternative routes will be sign posted.

Dave Wafer again: “Unfortunately you can’t put on an event of this scale without some interruption, but we hope that by providing advance notice people will have plenty of time to plan their routes. We would strongly suggest that people who usually commute through Durham consider an alternative route during the festival.

“We are keeping road closures to a minimum and where they are needed in the interests of public safety, and to provide the best possible festival experience, we would ask for everyone’s support and patience.”

A full list of road closures is available here www.durham.gov.uk/lumiere.