M1 traffic nightmare: Three lanes CLOSED after crash – cars stuck in 'horrendous' gridlock
DRIVERS on the M1 faced nightmarish traffic delays as three out of the four lanes were closed after a car crash on the carriageway on Thursday afternoon.
Huge congestion that eventually reached 10 miles was reported with drivers facing "horrendous" delays of up to 90 minutes. Drivers on the spot told Express.co.uk that the road looks "like an HGV park".
National Highways said that lanes 2, 3 and 4 (of 4) closed on the M1 northbound between J10 - J11 due to the collision, at around 12:30 on Thursday afternoon.
Bedfordshire Live reported then that the congestion was estimated to be about 8 miles, between Luton and Hemel Hempstead.
Drivers were advised to avoid the area.
If possible, National Highways called on divers to seek alternative routes.
The accident involved a car and a van.
Emergency services rushed to the scene for assistance.
It is still unknown if anyone was injured.
Inrix said that traffic was fully closed for ten minutes after the accident.
Then one of the lanes opened but the other three remained closed.
Shortly after 1pm, another lane reopened and traffic was slightly eased.
Two out of four lanes remained closed until about 2pm, prolonging the obstruction of traffic.
The accident occurred on M1 Northbound before J11 A505 Dunstable Road (Dunstable South / Luton).
Update - all lanes are now open on the #M1 northbound between J10 - J11. There are residual delays of 30 minutes above the usual travel time which are now expected to ease. Thank you pic.twitter.com/jNpcTXz7Cb
— National Highways: East (@HighwaysEAST) April 14, 2022
At 2pm, the traffic was still very bad in the area, since, according to Google Maps, there was congestion from the area of Luton & Dunstable University Hospital until Hemel Hempstead.
This is a distance of more than 10 miles.
All lanes reopened shortly after 2pm to ease traffic.
National Highways said: "There are residual delays of 30 minutes above the usual travel time which are now expected to ease."