ROADS throughout Bromsgrove are struggling under the strain of extra traffic as motorists use the town as a diversion while the northbound carriageway of the M5 remains closed.

The motorway is still closed between junction five at Wychbold and junction 4a for the M42, after workers were unable to lift a gantry during the overnight roadworks.

The overhead gantry which should span four lanes of traffic on the northbound carriageway was supposed to be lifted into position overnight, but equipment which was supposed to lift the gantry failed.

Now specialist equipment is on its way to complete the gantry lift, but the motorway could remain closed until this afternoon.

Highways England operations manager, Sioux Hine, said: “We can understand the frustration this has caused this morning, and it’s frustrating for us, too. We always try and carefully plan our overnight work to avoid this kind of disruption, and we’d like to apologise for the inconvenience.

“Sometimes, things happen which no one can foresee, but we are doing all we can now to try and reopen this section of the motorway. We’d ask people to please bear with us and we’ll provide updates throughout the day.”