The M60 was closed anti-clockwise between Junction 24 (Sheffield / Manchester) and Junction 23 (Ashton-under-Lyne) on the evening of Monday 15 June 2026 after an incident brought all lanes to a halt near Denton, with National Highways also shutting the J24 anti-clockwise access slip and forecasting normal conditions only just after midnight. The closure, logged in a regional control-room update timed at 22:16 on 15 June, struck one of Greater Manchester's busiest orbital corridors at a junction where commuter, freight and cross-Pennine traffic converge, leaving drivers facing diversions and long delays into the early hours of Tuesday 16 June, reports The WP Times.
The disruption matters because the affected stretch sits where the M60 meets the M67 and the wider Tameside road network, a pinch point that carries tens of thousands of vehicles a day and offers few easy alternatives once the main carriageway is blocked, particularly late at night when surrounding roads are unlit and recovery can be slow.
What National Highways has confirmed
According to the latest National Highways update, all lanes were closed anti-clockwise between J24 and J23 — the direction carrying traffic from the Denton interchange towards Ashton-under-Lyne and on around the eastern side of the Manchester ring road. A second, linked alert confirmed that the J24 anti-clockwise access slip, which feeds onto the motorway at the Sheffield / Manchester junction, was also shut, meaning drivers could neither continue along the carriageway nor join it at that point.
The agency classified both alerts as high-priority traffic events and projected that normal traffic conditions would return between 00:00 and 00:15 on Tuesday 16 June 2026. That window is an estimate, not a guarantee; reopening times for full closures regularly slip when an incident requires vehicle recovery, carriageway cleaning, barrier repairs or specialist attendance before lanes can safely reopen.
National Highways described the event as an "incident," a term the agency applies to a range of unplanned events including collisions, breakdowns, debris, vehicle fires and welfare concerns. At the time of the 22:16 update no cause had been confirmed, and motorists were advised to rely on overhead message signs and live updates rather than assume a reopening on schedule.
Recommended diversions and alternative routes
With the anti-clockwise carriageway and the J24 slip both closed, the most practical advice is to leave the M60 before the closure and rejoin beyond J23 where the network allows. Drivers approaching from the M67 or from the south should consider exiting at J24 onto the A57 Hyde Road and following local signage towards Denton and Audenshaw, then picking up the A6017 Ashton Road to rejoin the M60 in the Ashton-under-Lyne area beyond the closed section. National Highways traffic officers typically deploy a signed diversion on closures of this scale, and following that signage is safer than improvising a route through unfamiliar residential streets after dark.
For longer-distance journeys heading anti-clockwise towards the M62 at the top of the ring road, the cleaner option is often to stay on the M60 clockwise side or use the M67 and A560 / A6 corridors to bypass the Denton interchange entirely, rather than queueing on the approach in the hope of a quick reopening. Drivers travelling between Stockport and Oldham can also consider the A627 and A6017 as an inland alternative while the motorway link is severed.
One important caveat: separate planned overnight roadworks have been running on the M60 around the J22 to J24 corridor through mid-to-late June 2026, so some surface and slip-road routes near the interchange may already carry restrictions of their own. Drivers should check live conditions on both the motorway and the diversion roads before committing to an alternative, as a second bottleneck can quickly form on local roads not built for motorway volumes.
Where the closure hits hardest
Junction 24 is one of the more complex interchanges on the M60. It links the orbital motorway to the M67 towards Hyde and Glossop and sits close to the densely populated communities of Denton, Audenshaw and Reddish. When the anti-clockwise carriageway closes here, traffic that would normally flow around the eastern arc of the ring road is forced off at earlier junctions and pushed onto roads not designed to absorb it.
The knock-on effect spreads quickly. With the J24 access slip also closed, even local drivers attempting to join the motorway were turned back, concentrating still more vehicles onto the A57 and surrounding routes and lengthening journey times well beyond the closed section itself.
For anyone travelling in the area late on Monday or in the early hours of Tuesday, the guidance is straightforward. Allow significantly more time than usual, and check live conditions immediately before setting off rather than trusting a single estimated reopening time. Closures of this kind can clear earlier than forecast or run well past the published window, depending on what crews find on the carriageway. Where possible, drivers were advised to delay non-essential journeys through the eastern side of the ring road until the carriageway reopened. Live CCTV from the M60 anti-clockwise cameras offered the clearest real-time picture of how quickly traffic was clearing once lanes began to reopen, and remained the most reliable way to judge whether the midnight estimate was holding.
The M60 is no stranger to disruption around Denton and Tameside. The eastern section of the ring road regularly features in both overnight roadworks schedules and unplanned incident alerts, reflecting the sheer volume of traffic it carries and its role as a junction-heavy stretch where motorways meet. Resurfacing and barrier work on the J22 to J24 corridor is a recurring feature through the summer months, and an unplanned incident layered on top of that activity can compound delays sharply. For now the focus remains on clearing the carriageway and restoring the anti-clockwise route. National Highways will update its alerts as the situation develops, and the estimated reopening shortly after midnight is the first marker drivers will watch for.
Read about the life of Westminster and Pimlico district, London and the world. 24/7 news with fresh and useful updates on culture, business, technology and city life: London Traffic, 15–20 June 2026: The Week's Closures, Hour by Hour and Day by Day
