Summary

  • The M5 has reopened following a "police-led incident" on the Avonmouth Bridge

  • The route was closed for more than five hours with motorists trapped

  • The incident came to a conclusion at about 17:30 GMT but delays still remain

  • There are problems across Bristol with drivers attempting to find alternative routes

Are you stuck in the traffic? Get in touch with us

Live Reporting

  1. Incident resolved - but traffic is going to take a long time to return to normal
    Breaking

    National Highways say the incident is resolved - but it's going to take time for the traffic to return to normal.

    "Police have just resolved the incident on the M5 Avonmouth Bridge," a Highways spokesman said.

    "There is still a significant amount of emergency service resource still allocated to the incident, but we are anticipating starting to reopen the M5 between junctions 21 and 18 in approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

    "Residual delays will remain."

  2. Gridlock across Bristol

    Google Maps shows severe delays on all of Bristol's major A-roads.

    Some commuters have reported it taking them over an hour to travel one mile, while another driver in south Bristol says traffic has stopped moving.

    Map with red lines showing Bristol's trafficGoogle

  3. What is happening?

    Chris Kelly
    Digital Editor, BBC West

    We can see the motorway cameras here at the BBC - and some that cannot be seen by the public.

    While we can't show you them, we can tell you what we can see.

    The Avonmouth Bridge has a significant number of emergency service vehicles and workers in the middle of it. I can see police, ambulance and fire there.

    They've been on the bridge for quite a while now with traffic trapped either side of the bridge.

  4. Drivers experiencing long delays

    One driver, who did not want to be named, said he was stuck at the front of the queue for four hours before being turned around by police.

    "People were getting out of their cars and walking their dogs. We've been turned around and are now back past the Gordano turn off," he said.

    Abbi King, from Bridgwater, left at 12:30 GMT to drive to Northampton and is still stuck in the traffic.

    "We got past the Clevedon turn off but there were no signs telling us to leave the motorway before that.

    "The signs were still saying 50mph.

    "I looked at my phone to see where we were, then I saw all the red lines on the map," she said.

  5. First Bus says all services in Bristol affected

    A spokesperson for First Bus has said the knock-on effects of the motorway closure are affecting their services.

    "We are expecting to see delays of approximately 30-45 minutes so we are advising customers to plan travel in advance and leave ample time to make their journey.

    "We would also recommend all customers check our app and website regularly for further updates.”

  6. M5 closure causing problems across Bristol

    The M5 has been closed for several hours while police deal with an incident on the Avonmouth Bridge.

    Police have closed the motorway from J19 for Portishead to J17 to Cribbs Causeway.

    But the closure has led to knock on problems across the city.