M61 reopens after Lancashire Police deal with 'incident' between Chorley and Middlebrook

Police have stopped traffic on the M61 in response to an ongoing incident.

The motorway was at a standstill while police held traffic in both directions between Chorley (junction (8) and Middlebrook (junction 6) this morning.

Traffic was held for approximately 50 minutes from 11am, leading to long delays for those trapped within the roadblock.

A spokesman for National Highways said: "Due to the nature of the incident we are unsure of when we will be able to release traffic. Please stay in your vehicle."

All traffic was released at around 11.40am, but residual delays of 30 minutes remained in the area.

A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: "Morning all, we're letting you know that traffic in BOTH directions has temporarily stopped on the #M61 between J8 Chorley and J6 Middlebrook due to an incident that we are currently dealing with.

"We'll update when the road reopens - thank you for your patience."

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Latest from traffic monitoring service Inrix states: "M61 both ways blocked, long delays due to police incident from J8 A674 Millennium Way (Chorley) to J6 A6027 De Havilland Way (Horwich). Traffic was held around 11:00 am." Lancashire Police were approached for further details.