A section of the M4 was closed for more than six hours due to a police incident on an overbridge in Swindon today (March 18). The road was closed between J15 and J16 at 2pm, and it did not reopen until 8.30pm.
Many drivers were stuck in stationary traffic queues, while there were severe delays in the area. But Wiltshire police wrote on Twitter at 7.09pm that the road would reopen as the incident had been resolved. The force wrote: "The incident on the overbridge near Swindon has now been brought to a safe conclusion.
"We are working alongside Highways to now safely and swiftly reopen the M4. Thank you for your patience while the incident was dealt with."
Read more: M4 reopens in both directions after police incident comes to safe conclusion - updates
As the incident unfolded, drivers who were stuck in the queues needed to be released from the rear, and diversion routes were set up via the A3102 and A4259. Traffic monitoring site Inrix said there was congestion to routes through Swindon and Wroughton as vehicles were diverted from the motorway closure.
At 2pm, National Highways posted an update on Twitter which said that there was three and a half miles of stationary traffic in both directions. Then, at 5pm they tweeted that there were delays of at least 60 minutes above usual journey times approaching the motorway.
As the road reopened, cars were released past the scene and the road remained closed until all of the traffic had cleared. People were urged to stay in their cars as the congestion began to clear.
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