The M5 was closed in both directions on Monday morning, May 18, between J31 Shillingford Abbot and J30 Exeter after a police-led incident brought traffic to a stop on one of Devon’s main routes.
National Highways said there were currently no delays, but the road remained shut while emergency services worked at the scene. It added that there was no current estimated time for reopening, saying the nature of the incident meant the closure would stay in place until further notice.
Devon and Cornwall Police said there were six diversions in place for motorists on the M5, with routes changing depending on where drivers were heading from and to. One diversion sent traffic from M5 J30 to the A379 and then to the A38. Another took drivers from M5 J30 to the A379, then the B3123 Bad Hornburg Way, B3123 Hennock Road Central, B3123 Alphin Brook Road, Trusham Road and Marsh Barton Road before joining the A377 to Alphington Interchange and the A30 westbound.
For motorists travelling from the A38 eastbound to the M5 northbound, the diversion ran onto the A379 northbound and then to M5 J30. A separate route from the A30 at Alphington Interchange took drivers onto the A377, Marsh Barton Road, Trusham Road, B3123 Alphin Brook Road, B3123 Hennock Road Central, B3123 Bad Hornburg Way and then the A379 before rejoining the M5 northbound at J30.
The closure underlined how quickly a police-led incident on the motorway can ripple through the area, even when National Highways reported no immediate delays. With emergency crews still at the scene and no reopening time set, drivers faced a changing road layout and a set of diversions that had to do the work of the motorway itself.
The key question now is not how the traffic was being rerouted, but when the south-west’s busiest stretch of the M5 can reopen and return to normal use.
