TORONTO, Ont. – With Pope John Paul slated to celebrate World Youth Day here, truckers should say a prayer for traffic conditions around the GTA from July 18-28.

The event is expected to bring 450,000 young people and other faithful into Southern Ontario by car, bus and airplane. While the event runs for 10 days, activities expected to draw the largest crowds will actually take place during the five days between July 23-28.

Road users in Toronto and the surrounding area may experience somewhat heavier than usual traffic conditions at various times as the faithful flow into the area, but the greatest challenge for the trucking industry is expected to be border crossings on the event’s final day.

Commercial traffic should expect to be affected on July 28 when the event culminates with a Papal mass and the faithful begin to disperse immediately after. A very significant number of World Youth Day participants will be travelling on buses. Immediately following events on Sunday they are expected to make their way to border crossings as they return home to the U.S.

Thousands of buses will make their way to Ontario-U.S. border crossings. It will take up to 15 minutes to clear each busload.