The northbound carriageway of the M6 south of Carlisle will be closed for several hours today while emergency repairs take place.
A routine repairs and maintenance project is taking place under the pedestrian bridge at Southwaite services with two lanes closed for the work and lane one and the hard shoulder open to traffic.
But a defect has been discovered in the hard shoulder on the bridge over the local road network just south of the services with emergency resurfacing required.
The emergency work requires the closure of the northbound M6 between junction 41 at Catterlen Interchange and junction 42 at Carlisle South.
A diversion using the parallel A6 east of the motorway is in place between the two junctions
Highways England is advising drivers making essential journeys during the lockdown to plan journeys carefully and allow extra time if they need to use the M6 and diversion route this afternoon.
