Families trying to leave London for Christmas faced hours stuck in traffic jams today after one of the busiest routes out of the city was closed.
Night engineering work overran on the A4 Hammersmith flyover in west London, which remained shut. There were severe delays, above, as vehicles were diverted.
Transport for London is reinforcing parts of the four-lane, Sixties-built flyover, which carries nearly 90,000 vehicles a day. The project, above right, began in September to "preserve and extend" the flyover's working life, after internal cables were safety-checked. It was claimed this week that lives could be in danger because of corrosion on the flyover.
One onlooker said: "The delays were really bad. You could see families with young kids and presents packed into the cars. They were completely stuck - traffic just wasn't moving at all."
A Transport for London spokesman said he did not know when the flyover would reopen. "We are going as quickly as we can to complete our work," he added.
"In the meantime, drivers are advised to find alternative routes. We apologise for the disruption to journeys that this will cause."
