The Barmy Army is coming, but the Marlborough Highway Patrol is ready for them.

With about 2000 campervans expected to be travelling along Marlborough's roads during the Lions tour, the highway patrol has launched Operation Lions Folly to keep trouble on the roads to a minimum.

Tasman District highway patrol team leader Senior Sergeant Eric Davy said the operation would target the Barmy Army's legion of campervans, especially just before and after the June 25 match against the All Blacks in Christchurch.

"All staff will be working in the weeks surrounding the Christchurch test and we'll be basing extra staff in Kaikoura to ensure traffic in that area flows as smoothly as possible."

Mr Davy admitted he had no idea how many campervans would be travelling through the area, although some estimates suggest the convoy of vans could be up to 15km long.

"No matter what, there is little doubt there will be a big increase in the number of camper vans on the roads through Marlborough and with that volume of vehicles, all we can do is make sure everyone gets where they're going."

The Tasman booze bus will also take part in the operation, helping Canterbury staff before and after the test to catch any drink drivers on the roads.

Forty percent of the campervan travellers arrived in Auckland last week, with the rest flying directly into Christchurch for the first test, before travelling north for the Wellington game.

Davy coined the name of the highway patrol's operation, but denied he was trying to say anything special by calling it Operation Lions Folly.

"It just sounded like a good name. If anybody wants to read anything more into it, that's entirely up to them."