A1(M) Traffic News
The A1(M) carries traffic between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Leeds, Teesside and Tyneside. This page gathers the A1(M) reports National Highways publishes — incidents, lane and slip-road closures, roadworks and overnight shutdowns — for a quick look before you join.
The most recent reports sit at the top. An empty list means nothing reported that we are aware of when it was last refreshed.
One road, four motorways
The A1(M) is not one continuous motorway. It is the A1 upgraded to motorway in four separate places, with ordinary A1 in between. Together the four sections come to about 145 miles:
| Section | Junctions | Length |
|---|---|---|
| South Mimms to Stotfold | 1 to 10 | 24.14 miles |
| Alconbury to Peterborough | 14 to 17 | 12.84 miles |
| Doncaster Bypass, Blyth to Skellow | 34 to 38 | 15.13 miles |
| Darrington to Washington | 40 to 65 | 93.27 miles |
That is why the junction numbers jump from 10 to 14, from 17 to 34 and from 38 to 40. The numbers in the gaps belong to the A1 itself, which has no motorway junction numbers. If your journey uses those stretches, A1 traffic news carries the reports for the plain A1 in England, and the A1 route guide shows which parts are which from London to the Scottish border.
The two junctions that matter most
Junction 1 at South Mimms is also Junction 23 of the M25, and the first place north of London where you can swap the A1(M) for the orbital. Our sister site M25 Traffic covers it.
Junction 43, near Micklefield east of Leeds, is where the M1 ends and joins the A1(M). From there north the A1(M) carries the traffic of both roads, and the stretch to Junction 44 is the busiest on the whole A1(M): 142,783 vehicles a day in the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025. The average across all 86 A1(M) count points is 55,755. The A1(M) and M1 link roads page explains every place you can cross between the two, and M1 Traffic has the news for the other side.
Where the A1(M) takes you
- Hertfordshire — Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Letchworth and Baldock. Junction 9 is the A505, the airport’s own suggested route to Luton Airport from the A1(M).
- Cambridgeshire — Sawtry, Stilton and Peterborough.
- South Yorkshire — the Doncaster Bypass, with the M18 at Junction 35.
- West and North Yorkshire — the M62 at Ferrybridge, the A64 for York at Junction 44, Wetherby, Harrogate, Ripon, Catterick and Scotch Corner.
- County Durham and Tyneside — Darlington, Durham, Chester-le-Street and Washington, ending at Birtley, where the A1 continues round Gateshead and Newcastle.
Find what you need
- Latest A1(M) traffic news — all four sections in one list.
- A1(M) roadworks and A1(M) closures tonight.
- A1(M) accidents and incidents.
- Northbound and southbound traffic.
- Maps by section, the full junction list and the ten service areas with pages on this site.
- A1(M) traffic statistics.
Traffic count figures on this page are from the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025.