{"id":349387,"date":"2025-08-16T14:50:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/349387\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T14:50:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:50:19","slug":"m2-crash-belfast-single-lane-on-motorway-reopens-as-motorists-face-hours-of-disruption-following-major-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/349387\/","title":{"rendered":"M2 crash, Belfast: Single lane on motorway reopens as motorists face hours of disruption following major crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

The collision happened on the motorway leaving Belfast just after York Street.<\/p>\n

Traffic was again moving through a single left-hand lane by 3.30pm, an hour after the road was completely closed for a second time, to allow for an investigation at the scene of the collision and clean-up.<\/p>\n

It comes on a weekend when work on the M3 Bridge is set to cause disruption for motorists.<\/p>\n

The serious accident happened shortly after 11am this morning.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a male pedestrian died after a hit and run in a separate incident in Ballyclare on Friday evening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In further travel disruption, there has been disruption to the Belfast to Bangor train line this morning. At least one service has been cancelled.<\/p>\n

Translink had said a number of services between Belfast and Bangor would be affected due to a broken-down train. It later said some services had been reinstated.<\/p>\n

It came as an SDLP councillor warned the M3 bridge works could lead to a \u201cfull weekend of disruption\u201d and called for last minute measures to alleviate the issue.<\/p>\n

North Belfast councillor Carl Whyte said he fears the second phase of a \u00a3400k maintenance project on the M3 bridge could lead to \u201clengthy delays\u201d.<\/p>\n

The closure will be in force on the westbound carriageway of the bridge from 9pm on Friday August 15 until 6am on Monday August 18.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Traffic<\/p>\n

Traffic was filtering through one lane on the M2 shortly after 3pm.<\/p>\n

Why is the M3 closed this weekend ? <\/p>\n

As a result, the M3 itself will be closed from Bridge End to M2 Foreshore and there will be no access to the bridge from the A2 Sydenham Bypass. Traffic will be required to leave at Bridge End Flyover.<\/p>\n

No access to the M3 will be available from Middlepath Street on-slip during this period, with diversions in place.<\/p>\n

A similar closure at the start of the month caused traffic chaos across the entire weekend in Belfast, with long queues forming at pinch points across the city.<\/p>\n

On top of the work taking place, there is expected to be further congestion in the city with several road closures to accommodate the multi-cultural Mela carnival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Whyte said: \u201cThis will lead to lengthy delays for motorists in what is set to be a busy weekend in the city, with a series of large events taking place and people enjoying the good weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were scenes of absolute chaos in our city two weekends ago due to a similar closure, but it once again appears that the Infrastructure Minister and her department have failed to learn any lessons about the impact of these closures and the knock-on impact this work will have.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this work does need carried out, there is no extra public transport services to alleviate congestion, no contraflow system in operation and no clear plan from DfI or the police, about how they plan to manage the inevitable gridlock in east and north Belfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith over 90,000 vehicles using this route daily and major events taking place in the city this weekend, the Minister and department must explain why they continue to fail to learn the lessons from past traffic gridlock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department for infrastructure have urged motorists to plan their journey in advance this weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time [Friday to Monday] the M3 will be closed from Bridge End to M2 Foreshore and there will be no access to the bridge from the A2 Sydenham Bypass with all traffic required to leave at Bridge End Flyover,\u201d a DfI spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are travelling to Belfast International Airport or north or west please ask yourself do you need to drive across Belfast or can you take another route such as via the A55 outer Ring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are travelling into the city to enjoy some shopping or leisure , or if you are attending an event at Custom House Square or Belfast Mela, remember to factor the bridge closure into your travel plans.<\/p>\n

“Allow extra time, look at the alternative routes or consider using public transport if you can. You can plan your public transport journey at www.translink.co.uk\/journeyplanner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department would like to thank the travelling public for their patience and cooperation while these important bridge safety works are completed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The collision happened on the motorway leaving Belfast just after York Street. Traffic was again moving through a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[2378,84491,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-349387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-belfast","10":"tag-department-for-infrastructure","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115039005852905143","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}