M6 hit by further delays after junctions 16 to 18 closed overnight due to crash and fuel spillage

Recovery work is ongoing this morning to shift a second broken down vehicle from the carriageway between northbound junctions 16 (Nantwich, Crewe) and 17 (Sandbach, Congleton).
Delays on the M6 northbound this morning.Delays on the M6 northbound this morning.
Delays on the M6 northbound this morning.

Highways closed lane 2 and lane 3 within the roadworks section between junction 16 and 17 at 7am after a lorry broke down.

The lorry was recovered around 7.45am, but just 15 minutes later, a second vehicle broke down in the same stretch of carriageway within the roadworks section of junction 16 (A500, Crewe) and junction 17 (A534, Sandbach).

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This has led to another two-lane closure, just minutes after a previous closure was lifted.

Delays on the M6 northbound this morning.Delays on the M6 northbound this morning.
Delays on the M6 northbound this morning.

The incident is likely to affect journey times north to Lancashire, adding to the 60 minute delays already affecting the approach from junction 15 (Stoke).

Ten miles of congestion back to the junction at Stoke is leading to very slow moving traffic in the remaining open lane and people are being advised to allow plenty of time for their journeys.

The incident follows a collision between two lorries last night which forced a complete shutdown overnight on the M6 between junction 17 and 18.

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A spokesman for Highways England said: "There was a serious collision involving two HGVs just after 10pm last night, which caused an oil and fuel spillage.

"We had a diversion in place overnight and we able to reopen the carriageway once the lorries had been moved and the spillages dealt with."

Traffic had to be turned at 11pm after Highways closed the stretch of carriageway for over six hours following the collision to allow contractors and road engineers to clear the spillage from the carriageway.

Vehicles were turned around from the rear of the queue and escorted back to J17 until the carriageway was reopened at 5.45am.