What to do when a motorway is fully closed

Volume traffic thins gradually; a closure creates a queue that simply stops moving. If your live travel time keeps climbing instead of settling, or an official incident feed confirms a full block, treat it as a closure immediately rather than waiting to see if it clears.

Once you're boxed in among stationary traffic, every alternative disappears with you. The only exit that still works is the one ahead of the back of the queue — decide early, because that exit closes to you the moment you join the tailback.

Official diversions are usually signed and safe, but ad-hoc detours through smaller roads can carry height, weight or width limits that don't apply to the motorway. Confirm your vehicle fits before you follow traffic onto an unfamiliar route.

Full closures for major incidents can run for hours, but so can the delay from a badly chosen detour once everyone else has the same idea. Compare the diversion's realistic added distance with the closure's expected duration before choosing.

If the closure is long and every detour is congested or unsuitable for your vehicle, a service area or safe stop beats sitting in a queue with the engine idling. Waiting somewhere safe until the road reopens is often the fastest real option, even though it doesn't feel like progress.

ExitMe.app reads live traffic, official incident feeds and weather warnings together, checks any diversion against your vehicle's dimensions, and reduces the situation to one call: leave, wait, turn back, or take a safe stop. The verified route is then handed straight to Google Maps.