Crucial UK motorway to shut tonight with 17-MILE detour – sparking delays for tens of thousands of drivers

DRIVERS will face significant disruption as a major UK motorway closes overnight. The busy route will close tonight (Monday, July 20), with drivers re-routed on a 17-mile diversion. UK motorists will face a 17-mile diversion tonight as a major motorway closes for maintenance works (stock image) Credit: Doug Seeburg National Highways South West has advised motorists to allow for extra time on their journeys due to the length of the diversion (stock image) Credit: Getty A main motorway route between Bristol and South Wales will close as essential maintenance works are carried out. One side of the M4 will be shut from 8pm tonight until 6am tomorrow morning. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The closure will affect the westbound M4 from junction 20 – the Almondsbury interchange with the M5 – to junction 22 – where the road joins with the M49, just before the Prince of Wales Bridge. As a result, there will be no direct route on the M4 to the bridge, with drivers diverted to Avonmouth and the M49 as National Highways South West carry out the works. Drivers going west on the M4 past Bristol, or heading south on the M5 from Gloucestershire, will face an alternative route. This involves proceding to the M5 all the way to junction 18 at Avonmouth, before joining the M49 back north up to the Prince of Wales Bridge, and finally rejoining the M4 there. Drivers planning to head over the old Severn Bridge, and continuing onto the M48, to Chepstow and the Forest of Dean, should follow the A4 and A403 from Avonmouth. This route runs parallel with the M49, past Severn Beach and Pilning, to Aust and the M48. Most read in Motors National Highways has warned motorists to allow more time for their journeys during this time. Comment now