Roads 'not built to cope' with M5 closures

Roads around the M5 are not able to cope with the number of drivers which use them when the motorway closes, a council leader says.

Bill Revans, leader of Somerset Council, has asked National Highways and Avon and Somerset Police if they can explore plans for the M5 together, which he said was closing with "significant regularity".

The police force and road agency said they reopened motorways as quickly as possible after serious incidents and delays could stem from the need for repairs and investigation work.

Police figures from 2020 to 2025 showed average M5 road closures in Somerset lasted an hour less than the average for the south of England, which was five and a quarter hours.

But Revans said other areas had better local infrastructure to cope with the closures, even if they were longer on average.

"When the displacement traffic movements goes on to the county road network... it just isn't built to cope with that volume of traffic," he said.

Revans added he would not approach a meeting about the issue with solutions or blame but the M5 needed to be better managed.

He said this would then allow the council to look at how to manage the surrounding road network as the issue was impacting "communities, businesses and everyone's daily lives".

In response, Insp Matt Boiles from Avon and Somerset Police said there were a number of reasons a road had to stay closed after a crash.

"The closures are sometimes taking a long period of time - but that is not through choice. We're not sat there twiddling our thumbs.

"We are trying to get a job done as quickly and swiftly as possible," he added.

He did admit some A-roads struggled to take on "huge volumes of traffic" and said officers could look at how roads flowed and traffic light systems in the future.

A spokesperson for National Highways added: "We're aware of the impact any unplanned closures have on communities around the M5 and we will continue to engage with both emergency services and Somerset Council to identify opportunities for improvement within this process."

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