M18 fully reopens after fatal lorry crash near Doncaster

The M18 in South Yorkshire is set to fully reopen four days after a fatal collision.

A man in his 60s died after a lorry collided with the central reservation and caught fire on Monday evening, 15 August.

The stretch of motorway was fully closed for several hours while emergency services dealt with the incident. More than 70 metres of metal and concrete barriers were damaged and drivers were warned disruption would last for a number of days.

As well as barrier repairs, a section of the road had to be resurfaced.

A temporary 50mph speed limit was due to be introduced from 9pm on Thursday, with rolling road blocks on both carriageways, signs installed and lane two reopened in both directions.

National Highways service delivery manager Mandy Foster said: "Although we were able to repair the metal barrier on Tuesday, repairing the concrete barrier is presenting some challenges because the incident damaged the section where the metal merges into the concrete.

"We’ve carried out a temporary repair but it’s going to take around three weeks before we can complete the permanent fix.

"We want to keep traffic moving so have taken the decision to reopen lane two on both carriageways but with a mandatory 50mph speed limit in place for the safety of the travelling public.

"To keep our workforce safe we will have to briefly hold traffic under a rolling road block while we install signs and remove the lane closures. Disruption should be minimal and we thank drivers for their patience."

Further updates will be given once a date has been fixed for the permanent repair after the bank holiday weekend.

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