Accidents and road improvements caused gridlock in Newbury this morning (Mon)

Motorists from West Berkshire and Hampshire faced hour-long delays on the A34 following an incident involving one vehicle on the northbound carriageway, between the Tot Hill service station and the junction with the A4 Bath Road.
Motorists reported travel times of up to 60-minutes to travel four miles on the dual carriageway.
Thames Valley Police urged motorists to find other routes as the northbound carriageway was closed to allow for an air ambulance to land, pushing traffic on to the district’s roads already struggling with a diversion in Thatcham caused by the closure of Thatcham level crossing.
Motorists were diverted through Brimpton and adjacent villages and along the A4 as a result of the closure of the crossing while
traffic improvement work is carried out.
A two-vehicle collision on the M4 between Hungerford and Chieveley also added to the problems.
The worst accident saw the northbound carriageway of the A34 closed between the Tot Hill and A4 Bath Road junctions for over an hour, and at the time the Newbury and Thatcham Advertiser went to press, the inside lanes of both the north and southbound carriageways were still closed for emergency repairs to the central reservation.
Fire crews from Newbury and Hampshire attended at around 7:30am, but no action was required and they left the scene after an hour.
The driver of the
vehicle, a van, was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital via land ambulance.
His injuries were described as potentially serious by South Central Ambulance Service spokeswoman Michelle Archer.
A spokesman for the Highways Agency, Andrew Broughton said it was not known how long the repair work would take.
The collision on the M4 occurred at around 8:15am and involved a car and a van.