DELAYS are expected as the first of two weekend closures of the M6 at junction 19 runs until the early hours of Monday morning.

Work has started on the £43 million junction 19 upgrade at Tabley by Highways England to start installing bridge beams across the motorway.

A diversion takes M6 traffic over the roundabout and back onto the motorway.

The project was to have started last weekend but was postponed due to bad weather.

The closure will affect drivers in mid Cheshire and Knutsford.

It would have been the first of two successive weekend motorway closures affecting drivers in mid Cheshire and Knutsford.

Last week’s plummeting temperatures – which affected concrete curing – reduced the amount of time available for finishing work on the support columns in the hard shoulder and central reservation, forcing the postponement of the bridge beams installation.

The two Friday night to Monday morning closures will now take place this weekend and January 29, with an operation to crane 36 huge, 90-tonne bridge beams into place over the northbound and southbound carriageways.

Highways England is constructing a bridge over the M6 through the existing junction roundabout to improve traffic flow between the motorway and the A556 and reduce congestion around the roundabout itself.

The new bridge is set to open in the summer.

For more information about the project see highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/north-west/m6-junction-19