Motorists travelling northbound on the M5 through Somerset faced major disruption on Sunday (August 17th) due to emergency road surface repairs on the Avonmouth Bridge near Bristol.
Three lanes were closed between Junction 19 (Portishead) and Junction 18 (Bristol) through the day for the repairs, pictured here.
Tailbacks stretched over 14 miles back beyond Weston at J21. Delays of up to four hours were reported by several motorists at 4.30pm.
National Highways confirmed the lane closures were due to an “infrastructure defect” requiring urgent attention. The closure of two lanes lasted until around 10pm to allow the materials to cure in the high heat.
A temporary fix was initially carried out but it soon became clear a permanent solution was “quickly needed”, a spokesperson said.
They explained the warm weather is affecting the speed at which the repairs can be carried out, with materials used to fix the issue taking longer to cure.
