1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections

UK highway reopens after crash, bridge collapse

August 28, 2016

A highway linking London with crucial cross-Channel routes is operational again after being closed for 30 hours. Safety officials removed rubble from a collapsed bridge after a truck hit one of its pylons.

https://p.dw.com/p/1JrOR
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/S. Lock

Safety officials removed rubble from the collapsed bridge on Sunday, 30 hours after the M20 highway shut down following an accident. Highways England tweeted the reopening.

Highways England spokesman Stuart Thompson told the Associated Press that safety checks had proven "very complex," particularly on the part of the bridge that looms over the highway's eastbound lanes.

Motion detectors have been installed to see whether the bridge remains stable. The speed limit has been reduced to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour).

The footbridge over the M20, which runs southeast of London, collapsed on Saturday when a westbound truck struck a pylon. A motorcyclist fell of his bike and suffered broken ribs. He was taken to a hospital.

The collapse prompted authorities to shut down a section of one of the busiest roads in England, causing a massive traffic jam. The road connects London with the port in Dover and the tunnel leading to France.

mg/jlw,kl (AP, dpa)