Drivers face diversions as new gantries lifted into place

The first two gantries go up next Monday and Tuesday nights between junction 33 (Doncaster) and junction 34 (Meadowhall).

Lanes two and three northbound and all three lanes southbound will be closed, with traffic travelling on the hard shoulder. Traffic will be temporarily stopped while the gantries are lifted into place with a 200-tonne crane.

Motorists heading south face diversions when the next six go up between junctions 32 and 33 over four nights from August 22. The southbound carriageway will be fully closed between 9pm and 6am along with lanes two and three on the northbound carriageway.

Highways England project manager Arun Sahni said: “The erection of a ‘superspan’ is a big job that calls for overnight closures, but then they’re very big structures. You really get a sense of their size when they are on the ground waiting to go up.

“While we have the closures in place for the six nights we will also be carrying out other works in the area which included resurfacing of the entry slip road at junction 33.”

Diversions will be place when the southbound carriageway is closed via the A630, the A631 and M18. Heavy goods vehicles can use either the M62 and the A1 or the M62 and M18.