travel news on m4

Live Travel Updates, Congestion Reports

M4 Travel News. Avoid Accidents and Roadworks

The M4 is a major motorway that connects London and South West England, running from London to South Wales. It is a vital part of the UK transport network and economy, but it can also be affected by roadworks, accidents and congestion.

Latest M4 Congestion Reports

If you are planning to travel on the M4 motorway, you need to stay updated with the latest traffic news and information.

Live M4 Accident Updates

Traffic delays for the M4 motorway in Southern England. Latest travel news from UK Traffic Delays official open source data.

Westbound M4 Roadworks and Delays

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Information supplied direct by Traffic Wales.

M4 : Eastbound : J42 Earlswood to J41 Pentyla/Baglan : Resurfacing work : Road closed : Local diversions in place 29/04/24-03/05/24 2000-0600 :

M4 : Westbound : J44 Lon Las : Maintenance work : Offslip closed : Local diversions in place

M4 motorway map.

Live traffic flow information. Avoid M4 travel congestion and plan a smarter route.

Traffic delay information supplied by UK Traffic Delays. Live traffic reports, roadworks and travel news for the M4 motorway in England.

Our M4 travel news is as up to date as possible but please do always check with local radio news sources and always allow plenty of time for your journey.

UK Traffic Delays is a reliable source of updated UK travel information. National Highways data obtained under open licence. London travel information is used under license from TfL: Powered by TfL Open Data .

Our website contains public sector travel information licensed under the: Open Government Licence v3.0 .

Please Leave a Comment

8 thoughts on “m4 travel news. avoid accidents and roadworks”.

Will M4 be closed at Pontabraham on Sunday 3rd September.Also what other roadworks the same day on M4.

On Saturday 19 March at approx midnight, I will drive from London to Windsor on the M4 hoping to exit at junction 6 for Windsor. Will I be able to do this smoothly or will there be deviations on my way to Windsor from London for M4 works on Saturday the 19th of March? Thanks

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There are no current incidents or roadworks on the M4.Drag the map to show traffic incidents in the surrounding area.

Traffic incidents

The following traffic incidents and congestion for M4 have been reported by Highways England, Traffic Scotland, Traffic Wales or Transport for London (TfL) in the last two hours:

M4 Roadworks

The following roadworks have been reported by various highways agencies and official transport sources.Click on a roadworks item to view more details on the traffic map.

The M4 is a motorway in the United Kingdom that connects London and South West England. It runs from London to South Wales and it is a crucial part of the English transport network.

The M4 was first proposed in 1927 and construction began in 1958. It was completed in 1971, running from London to Reading, Berkshire and later extending to South Wales.

The M4 is one of the major roads in the UK and a significant part of the economy. The M4 has been upgraded in certain sections and currently consists of 146 miles (235 km) of motorway.

The M4 is one of the safest motorways in the UK. According to the Department of Transport (DfT), the M4 had a collision rate of just 0.41 per million vehicle kilometres between 2017-2018. This is lower than the UK major-road average of 0.71.

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Get in touch with us or stay up to date with our latest news and updates.

Live Email Traffic Alerts

Get live email alerts whenever there is a traffic incident or roadworks on the M4 that may cause congestion or jams.

LEGAL NOTICE

Please remember that it is against the law to use your mobile phone, tablet or any electronic device without a hands-free kit whilst driving.If you're caught by the police using any device that can send or receive data whilst driving or riding a motorcyle you'll get an automatic fixed penalty notice, 6 points on your licence and a fine of £200.A court could also disqualify you from driving.

Elsewhere on the web:

Official source of traffic updates.

Transport for London's (TfL) portal for transportation in London.

The Welsh government's traffic information service for Wales.

Live traffic conditions and news for Scotland's road network.

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Except where otherwise noted, content and photographs on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License . Owned, operated and copyright CliqTo Ltd 2024 and Chris Haycock . Registered company number 7575287. Page (M4) cached at 29/04/2024 03:24:07

• Tips & advice

Latest live M4 traffic news

Live m4 traffic news and updates for m4 junctions, plus real time travel reports on delays, accidents, roadworks and snow.

The M4 is the main road running between London and South Wales, passing via Slough, Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea along the way. Much like the rest of the UK’s road network, the M4 has its areas most likely to cause tail backs – primarily where it joins the M25 on the west of London and also where it meets the M5 near Bristol. Naturally, accidents, roadworks and other traffic issues cause delays, so it pays to be on top of your journey before you start your engine.

There used to be a toll road charge to cross the M4 Severn bridge that joins England and Wales, but after 52 years, the charge was scrapped on December 17th 2018.

Generally the majority of the M4 tends to stay relatively clear, but the 189-mile route can see extra congestion during rush hour and summer holidays. If you’re planning to use any section of the M4 motorway, this page will be a useful aid for travel alerts, live updates and an incident map for both westbound and eastbound lanes.

Scroll down to find live tweets on the latest traffic conditions on the M4.  

M4 live motorway cameras

If there is traffic disruption on the M4 you can keep up to date on any delays with live traffic cameras for the eastbound and westbound M4.

M4 weather report

Details of the latest weather warnings in the M5 area from the Met Office...

• Met Office South West weather report

The history of the M4 

The Ministry of Transport first proposed a new road from London to South Wales in the 1930s. Plans for the M4 as one of the first major post-war trunk roads were produced in 1956 and construction began in 1961. The Chiswick flyover, a short section of elevated dual-carriageway built to reduce the impact of traffic travelling between central London and the west, opened in 1959 and later became part of the new M4 route. The section from J18 to the west of Newport was opened in 1966, including the Severn Bridge, which is now part of the M48.

The English section of the motorway was completed in December 1971 when the 50-mile stretch between Maidenhead and Swindon was opened for public use. The Welsh section was finished in 1993, when the Briton Ferry bridge opened. The Second Severn Crossing opened in 1996, and motorways on either side of the river carried the M4 over the new crossing when construction was finally completed. 

•  M5 traffic: live news updates

M4 junctions

All of the M4 junctions on the southbound and northbound carriageways are detailed below... 

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Featured News

Welcome to our M4 traffic search page.

The traffic news and updates for the M4 motorway are updated by the minute during the day and overnight to help you find the latest M4 traffic news for today.

We feature M4 traffic news relevant to today, current M4 traffic reports and updates.

Information about M4 roadworks.

Information about the latest congestion on the M4 that could delay your journey down the M4 motorway.

M4 accidents, incidents and other delays.

Thank you for using M4Traffic.co.uk we do our best to feature the latest M4 motorway news to help you avoid the congestion and delays using the M4.

Come regularly to see our latest M4 updates!

M4 blaze: Westbound motorway closed after lorry carrying hay bales catches fire

• West Country
• M4 motorway
• Wednesday 24 April 2024 at 10:09pm

The westbound carriageway of the M4 motorway has been closed near Bristol on Wednesday 24 April.

A lorry carrying hay caught fire shortly after 4.30pm, according to the traffic monitoring site Inrix.

The M4 westbound is closed between junction 18 for the A46, Bath and Tormarton, to junction 19 for the M32, Bristol.

There are long delays stretching away from the scene.

The latest log from Inrix says: "M4 Westbound closed, severe delays due to lorry fire from J18 A46 (Bath / Tormarton ) to J19 M32 (Bristol).

"Congestion to routes through Wick as traffic diverts away.

"Fire services are still trying to put the fire out due to the lorry carrying hay bales, camera shows trapped traffic is in the process of being turned around as has been held since around 16:35, The road closed around 16:40."

Firefighters leave the scene just after 9:30pm

Avon and Fire Search and Rescue Service said: " With no remaining hotspots, crews have left the scene in the hands of [National Highways South West]."

Traffic within the closure released but drivers warned of delays of up to 80 minutes

Fire crews remain at the scene

Inrix reports: Fire services are still trying to put the fire out due to the lorry carrying hay bales, trapped traffic is still being turned around due to the length of the queue."

Bus services affected

Pictures from the scene

National Highways said on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Traffic is currently held westbound #M4 J18 to #J19 ( #M32 ). "This is due to a lorry fire. The fire service is on scene dealing and National Highways Traffic Officers are assisting with traffic management. Expect long delays."

Diversion in place

Road users travelling westbound are advised to follow the below diversion, which is not symbol led:

Exit the M4 at J18 onto the A46 headed southbound and continue for approx. 3.5 miles.

At the A420/A46 junction, take the A420 headed westbound and continue for approx. 5 miles.

At the A4174/A420 junction, take the A4174 headed northbound and continue for approx. 5.5 miles to the M32 J1 roundabout.

Take the M32 northbound and re-join the M4 at J19.

Updates to follow.

M4: National Highways confirms overnight closures and full weekend closures of stretch of motorway through West Berkshire until July

The M4 will be shut through part of West Berkshire this weekend.

It is one of a series of planned closures on the stretch of motorway between junction 11 at Reading and junction 12 at Theale.

The works, which started on Monday, are to allow for Burghfield Road bridge repairs, which includes replacing the existing paint system and refurbishing the bridge bearings, to ensure it remains in a safe condition.

Nick Axford, National Highways project manager, said: “This bridge maintenance is vital to ensure the long-term safety and integrity of the M4.

“We advise everyone to plan their journeys accordingly and to stay updated by checking the National Highways webpage and Twitter/X for any updates.

“We would like to thank everyone for their patience while we carry out this maintenance.”

Overnight closures of the westbound carriageway, which started on Monday, will continue tonight (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) from 8pm until 6am.

There will then be a full closure of the westbound carriageway from 9pm on Saturday until 6am on Monday.

On Monday (April 29) and Tuesday (April 30), there will be further overnight closures, westbound, from 8pm until 6am.

The closures are in place from junction 11, up to and including the Moto Motorway Services entrance slip road, which will be closed when the motorway is closed.

Throughout the first two weeks of May – from May 1 until May 16 – there will be westbound overnight closures, running from 8pm until 6am, before another full weekend closure of the same carriageway from 9pm on Friday, May 17 until 6am on Monday, May 20.

Overnight closures, from 8pm until 6am, will then take place on the westbound carriageway from May 20-23 and again from May 28-31.

Drivers are being advised to allow extra time for their journeys.

A signed diversion will be in place throughout the works.

Further closures of the westbound and eastbound carriageways will be taking place throughout June and July.

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M4 motorway

The M4 motorway crosses Berkshire and links Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell to London, the M25 and South Wales. Junctions 10 to 12 opened in 1971, while Junction 11 (pictured) underwent extensive improvements between 2008 and 2010. It is currently being converted to a four lane smart motorway.

Related: Join the Berkshire travel Facebook group // Traffic & Travel // M3 // A329(M)

Get the latest traffic news, crash updates and roadworks to your inbox with our Berkshire Traffic and Travel newsletter - sign up here.

HELP! Please sign our petition to reinstate the live CCTV traffic camera feeds for the M4

As most of you will have already seen, back in December, National Highways, the government body who control and operate the CCTV cameras on the M4 (and the rest of England) restricted access to their feeds, freezing the images on that date and not allowing third parties like us to give you the access to the latest traffic images you previously enjoyed.

We've been working hard to get this access restored but have unfortunately met with nothing but bureaucratic red tape and a response of "no, because we said so" from National Highways.

Road users in Scotland and Wales don't have this problem; their government bodies put the needs of the public first and have created ways for third-party providers to build fast, helpful services, now used by thousands of UK motorists daily.

The more people that sign, the quicker this can be resolved, so please share!

We have been told by National Highways that the camera feeds for the M4 in England will be reinstated shortly. Please check back.

If the images are not updating, please check back later.

Enter a custom name for this camera if required, then click the route you wish to save it to.

Enter a custom name for this Bookmark, or just click save to keep it as it is.

Are you sure you wish to remove this camera from ALL routes? If you only wish to remove this camera from a specific route please Cancel, go to the Route in question and remove it from there.

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Latest CCTV traffic image from camera #1489 on the M4 road.

Latest CCTV traffic image from camera #1490 on the M4 road.

Latest CCTV traffic image from camera #1491 on the M4 road.

Latest CCTV traffic image from camera #1492 on the M4 road.

Latest CCTV traffic image from camera #1493 on the M4 road.

Latest CCTV traffic image from camera #1494 on the M4 road.

Latest CCTV traffic image from camera #1496 on the M4 road.

Traffic is at a standstill on two motorways in the South West while horses are moved from a broken down horsebox. Congestion is growing on the M4 and M5 in Bristol while the road is closed in both directions.

National Highways issued a statement saying: "The #M4 is closed in both directions between J20 ( #M5 ) and J22 ( #M49 ) due to a broken down horsebox." Traffic cameras show huge delays today (April 20) at junction 20, with drivers warned of long delays.

Traffic monitor Inrix reports: "All traffic being temporarily held and stationary traffic due to broken down Horsebox on M4 in both directions at J20 M5 J15 (Almondsbury Interchange). Traffic cameras shows in both directions traffic is being held for a breakdown which is on the eastbound side of the motorway."

This is a live blog. Scroll below for more updates.

• Another crash in Bristol 16:58
• Diversion routes 16:34

Traffic is easing

Traffic easing, earlier broken down horsebox on M4 Eastbound at J20 M5 J15 ( Almondsbury Interchange). Previous congestion to M49 / M5 J18 Northbound. Road has reopened after being closed to allow safe horse transfer to another vehicle.

All lanes reopen with very long delays

Congestion to surrounding roads.

Inrix reports: "Queueing traffic due to earlier broken down horsebox on M4 Eastbound at J20 M5 J15 ( Almondsbury Interchange). Congestion to the Prince of Wales Bridge, M49 / M5 J18 Northbound, M48 Eastbound J1 (Aust). All lanes have been re-opened. Road has reopened after being closed to allow safe horse transfer to another vehicle. Residual delays remain."

Another crash in Bristol

Road has reopened.

Queueing traffic due to earlier broken down horsebox on M4 Eastbound at J20 M5 J15 ( Almondsbury Interchange). All lanes have been re-opened. Road has reopened after being closed to allow safe horse transfer to another vehicle. Residual delays remain.

Traffic moving westbound

M4 Eastbound closed, stationary traffic due to earlier broken down horsebox at J20 M5 J15 ( Almondsbury Interchange). The horse has been recovered into another vehicle and the traffic has been released on the Westbound carriageway. The eastbound carriageway is still closed.

Police officers at the scene

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesperson has confirmed officers are at the scene of a broken down vehicle on the M4. Officers were called at 12.40pm, they said.

Traffic diverted

Read the full story here

Diversion routes

Huge delays reported.

Horses being moved

There are huge queues around Bristol

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The broken down horsebox, all traffic held.

Inrix reports: "All traffic being temporarily held and stationary traffic due to broken down Horsebox on M4 in both directions at J20 M5 J15 ( Almondsbury Interchange). Note change of details. Camera shows in both directions traffic is being held for a breakdown which is on the eastbound side of the motorway, to allow safe transfer of the horses into another vehicle."

Huge delays on motorways

• Traffic & Travel
• Most Recent

M4 MacBooks: Everything we know so far

M4 MacBooks are coming with AI as a big focus

• Rumored specs
• Price & release date speculation
• Performance
• Battery life

Apple is getting ready to unleash a fresh wave of MacBooks on the world, and all signs point to the first models hitting store shelves in the latter half of 2024.

It's still early days so we don't know much yet about what to expect from these machines, but one of the surest bets is that they'll be powered by a new Apple M4 chip being cooked up in Cupertino.

While we're still short on technical details about the M4 and what to expect, Bloomberg reporter and Apple whisperer Mark Gurman believes AI will be a major marketing point for these chips. 

That makes sense given the "AI laptop" hype that's been rising ever since the debut of NPU-equipped Intel Meteor Lake CPUs, and Apple is no doubt keen to remind people that MacBooks have been packing their own AI-optimized Neural Engines since the 2020 MacBook Air M1 . 

Nobody knows what the future holds, but we can make some pretty well-educated guesses about what the next MacBook will be. Here's everything we know so far about the MacBook M4, and what we expect when it arrives.

MacBook M4: Rumored specs

Apple's successor to the M3 chip will define the next generation of MacBooks, so it's safe to say we'll see the specs include an upgrade to M4. Beyond that we haven't heard much at all yet about what changes, if any, Apple plans to make to the specs of the M4 MacBooks.

But the company is typically pretty conservative about changing the specs of its laptops from generation to generation, so it's likely they'll be awfully similar to what we saw on the M3 MacBooks. The cheapest entry point, the 13-inch M3 Air ($1,099), starts with an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB of memory and 256GB of SSD storage. 

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The numbers go up from there, topping out in the powerful 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max which, when maxed out (~$7,199), packs a 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 128GB of memory and 8TB of storage. We may see nominal upgrades in the core count of the M4 MacBooks, but it's too soon to say yet whether Apple plans any specs upgrades more radical than that.

MacBook M4: Price and release date speculation

Apple aims to release the first MacBook M4 before the end of 2024, according to Gurman. He believes we should expect to see "a low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro" as well as possibly "high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros...all with M4 chips."

That matches up pretty well with the company's habit of hosting release events in October, as it did in 2023 when it unveiled the M3 MacBook Pro during its "Scary Fast" Apple event .

The rest of the M4 MacBook line will likely launch in 2025, as Gurman expects 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air M4s to debut by spring. 

Apple will likely also be dropping some M4-powered desktops, including an expected new iMac M4 and Mac mini M4 in 2024 potentially followed by an M4-driven Mac Studio and Mac Pro in 2025.

These upgraded M4 models may be more expensive than their current counterparts, but it seems unlikely Apple would significantly raise prices on the MacBook M4s unless they were also significantly improved. 

To give you a sense of the starting point for M4 MacBook pricing, let's look at what M3 Macs cost right now. The  M3 MacBook Air 13 and  MacBook Air 15-inch  laptops start at $1,099 and $1,299, respectively, and I doubt Apple wants to price the M4 version of its cheapest laptop far past that. 

The base M3  14-inch MacBook Pro  costs $1,599 to start, while the more powerful 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro  starts at $1,999 and the big, beefy  16-inch MacBook Pro  starts at $2,499. If Apple were to raise prices on the M4 versions, it seems unlikely it would be willing to do so by more than it has in the past, typically around $100-$200.

MacBook M4: Design

It's too early to say yet what changes, if any, Apple will make to the design of the MacBook M4 lineup. Back in March Gurman said Apple had "just started formal development" of the MacBook Pro M4, and given the popularity of the design it seems unlikely we'll see any major changes.

If the M4 Airs are even farther off it's probably too soon to guess at what they'll look like, but since light-and-thin design are a key selling point of the line I expect they'll be as svelte as their predecessors. While I'd love to see the Air get a more useful port array, it seems unlikely Apple will compromise on thinness.

MacBook M4: Performance

The one thing you can be pretty sure about is that Apple will be talking up big gains in performance and power efficiency for the M4 chips that will power these MacBooks. 

We haven't heard much yet about what to expect in terms of raw numbers, like core counts or speed increases, but since Apple hasn't done much more than refine the design of MacBooks over the past few years, the under-the-hood upgrades are typically the star of the show.

But while there's little more than rumors so far about what to expect from the M4 chip lineup in terms of performance, the Taiwanese  Economic Daily News  did publish a report claiming these chips will feature an upgraded Neural Engine (which could mean more cores than the 16 on the Apple M3 chips ) more clearly optimized for  AI and machine learning tasks that affect your daily workflow.

Given the current trend of promoting laptops based on their AI capabilities, it's easy to see Apple talking up how the M4 and its Neural Engine are optimized to run the best Mac AI apps on the market. It's not hard to imagine a demo of a popular chatbot like  ChatGPT  (because you know there's no way Apple's putting Google Gemini up on stage) running locally on an M4 MacBook, with an emphasis on how that can afford you increased privacy and security. 

MacBook M4: Battery life

Here's an easy prediction to make: M4 MacBooks will have great battery life.

MacBooks have been steadily running 12 hours or longer in our battery tests ever since the introduction of Apple silicon, and the M3 lineup was no slouch, delivering 14-17 hours with ease. 

MacBook M4: Outlook

There's very little to go on at this point, but what we've heard so far suggests the MacBook M4 lineup will be a performance-focused upgrade that could give us our first real look at how Apple intends to promote AI on its laptops.

That's potentially exciting, because a lot of the tricks that are used to promote AI-optimized laptops these days (like auto-centering you on video calls or automagically editing an image with the touch of a button) are straight out of Apple's playbook. If the company feels pressured to demonstrate how well it can integrate AI to make your day-to-day life on Mac better, we could see some fun stuff.

But even if it's a nominal upgrade, like so many of the new AI features in Windows laptops have been, it's difficult to imagine the M4 MacBook lineup not being popular.  MacBooks have been pretty easy to recommend since the debut of Apple silicon, and if the company does little to change much besides the chip they'll likely still compete with the best laptops on the market. 

More colors wouldn't hurt, though.

Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more than a decade of experience covering both for outlets like Game Developer, Black Hat, and PC World magazine. A lifelong PC builder, he currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice. 

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