The M6 motorway has almost completely reopened, following two incident near Carlisle.
All three lanes northbound and two lanes of the southbound carriageway were closed between junctions 41 (Wigton) and 42 (Carlisle South) for much of today.
The closure led to long queues of traffic both on the motorway and on surrounding roads – including the A6 – as traffic was diverted.
The incidents, which happened just before 9am, were both north of Southwaite Services.
Officers were called initially to reports that an HGV had collided with the central reservation and shed its load on both carriageways.
The driver of the vehicle - understood to be a Scania lorry - was not injured.
Long tailbacks on the M6 northbound one mile before junction 42 Carlisle south. @newsandstar @CumbriaNewsPics @CumbriaTravel pic.twitter.com/6DbopZqAb9
— Stuart Walker (@StuWalkerPhotos) 21 September 2017
A second incident - a van pulling a trailer which jackknifed when braking - also happened on the northbound carriageway, near to the HGV crash.
Both carriageways have now reopened, although Highways England has warned that one lane of the southbound carriageway is currently closed to allow central reservation repairs.
#M6 N/B btwn J41+J42 in #Cumbria has re-opened following completion of recovery operations. Lane 3 is clsd s/b for barrier repairs however.
— Highways England (@HighwaysNWEST) 21 September 2017
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