Skip to main content

Britain's M1 motorway re-opens after extensive fire

One of Britain's major motorways, the M1, is now able to carry traffic in both directions between junctions 1 and 4 near London, following extensive investigation, assessment, and structural reinforcement which has taken place non-stop since Friday, 15 April.
March 1, 2012 Read time: 1 min
A UK highways Agency photograph showing the metal support structure below the M1 after the fire damage. (David Townend Photography)
One of Britain's major motorways, the M1, is now able to carry traffic in both directions between junctions 1 and 4 near London, following extensive investigation, assessment, and structural reinforcement which has taken place non-stop since Friday, 15 April.

Construction work on the bridge support, and investigations to determine what remedial work needs to be carried out following extensive fire damage in a business under an elevated section of the motorway, are ongoing.

Two lanes in each direction have been re-opened on the motorway, which links the capital with Leeds in northern England. An 11km section of the route was closed following the fire.

Drivers are still advised to check before travelling, and consider alternative routes or means of travel to their destinations as there may still be some congestion due to the reduced capacity of the road.

Related Content

  • North East UK’s A19 /A1058 Coast Road triple-deck junction opens
    April 5, 2019
    More than 80,000 drivers a day are now using the recently opened and - first ever - North Tyneside triple-deck highway junction in the northeast. England’s A19 /A1058 Coast Road junction improvement scheme, being done for the client Highways England, was opened on time. However, there will be some overnight closures in the next several weeks to complete the landscaping, traffic light and footpath work. A time capsule has been buried on site and is due to be opened in 2118. Work started in June 2016 on
  • Developments in minimising construction defects
    February 27, 2012
    Egis has an innovative approach to addressing construction defects - *Martin O’Flaherty, Jean Pohu. Defects often become apparent after construction projects are handed over to the client and this is a common problem across most highway projects. The problem is shared by highway operators who have assumed the responsibility of managing such projects.
  • New UK dual carriageway project commencing
    February 14, 2020
    Work for an important dual carriageway connection in the UK is now moving ahead.
  • Russia to commission new Moscow-St Petersburg highway by 2020
    June 20, 2017
    Final delivery of the final stretch for Russia’s key highway project looks set to be delayed – Eugene Gerden writes. I now looks as if Russia’s most ambitious project in the field of road building in recent years, the building of a new high-speed road link between Moscow and St Petersburg, the country’s largest cities, will not be complete in time. The project was set up by the Russian government and several private investors. According to initial state plans, building of the new road should have been compl