M3 Closure Both Directions Hampshire Saturday 23rd September 2017
The M3 in Hampshire was closed in both directions between J9 and J11 due to a suspicious package being reported on the southbound carriageway. South Central Ambulance Services were first on scene and quickly requested attendance for other emergency services.
At approximately 03:52 on Saturday 23rd September our South East Regional Control Centre (SERCC) were alerted to debris in the carriageway between J10 and J11 by Ambulance Services who were already on scene. At 03:55 SERCC set lanes 1 and 2 closed on the Variable Message Signs (VMS) to advise motorists travelling through that location. Hampshire Fire & Rescue arrived on scene at 03:56 and immediately began to make a risk assessment of what the debris or package was.
SERCC advised our National Traffic Operations Centre (NTOC) in Birmingham of this emerging incident and began to consider the implications on traffic heading to the area. At 03:59 Highways England Traffic Officers implemented a rolling road block on approach to the incident. The road was now blocked with 2 Fire Crews on scene, 1 Ambulance, 1 Police Unit and a Traffic Officer vehicle.
At 4:04 our National Incident Liaison Officer tweeted the incident to our HighwaysSEAST twitter page to highlight the incident on social media. At 04:50 it was decided by Senior Officers at scene to close the road as specialist teams such as the Hazardous Materials Branch from Hampshire Fire & Rescue would need to attend. In addition at this stage lanes 2 & 3 were also closed on the eastbound carriageway. Traffic Officers began rearward relief to vehicles stuck within the closure at 05:01 where traffic is turned at scene and allowed to travel back to the junction and exit the road.
As there is no tactical diversion between J10 and J11 due the surrounding road network our SERCC had no choice but to instruct the road to be closed at J9. This would allow traffic to follow our Solid Triangle diversion route where motorists would use the A272, A31, Morestead Road, Hazeley Road and the B3335 to negate the incident. At 05:10 the NILO added details of the diversion route to Breaking News on all Highways England websites and our HighwaysSEAST twitter feed.
At 05:23 it was decided in the interests of safety to close the eastbound carriageway between J11 and J9. SERCC informed Winchester City Council at 06:02 to expected additional traffic on their road network due to the ongoing M3 incident.
At 07:04 the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) arrived on scene from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) with the Ambulance Hazardous Area Rescue Team arriving shortly after at 07:33. The On duty NILO notified the Department For Transport (DFT) Dangerous Goods Branch at 10:18 of the ongoing incident and nature of it. EOD were able to confirm at 11:09 that the package posed no imminent threat however further investigations would be required.
At 13:24 after extensive investigation it was deemed safe to re-open the eastbound carriageway and our SERCC amended their closure signals to 50mph restrictions due to congestion in the area. At this point the National Traffic Information Centre set VMS to advise M3 J11 – J9 | NOW OPEN. At 15:27 OUR Traffic Officers were given the all clear to re-open the southbound carriageway by EOD and Hampshire Police as the package had been safely removed.
Highways England would like to thank our all of our customers who were affected by this incident for their patience and understanding throughout.