Locals to Face January Travel Lockdown with Two Full M6 Closures Set to Bring Gridlocked Local Roads

Households in Penrith and across Eden have over the last week received a flyer from National Highways with details of diversion routes and changes to how Kemplay roundabout will operate over two weekends in January 2026 when the M6 will be full closed at Clifton with the motorway fully closed between Penrith and Shap as the Westcoast railway bridge is demolished and the new bridge wheeled into place in a £60million pound infrastructure project to replace the bridge built in the 1960’s shortly before the M6 reached Penrith.

The National Highways leaflet with further details around parking restrictions and local resident permits that will be in place across the diversion routes was delivered to 24,000+ properties across the local area with National Highways planning another leaflet in November with further updates.

The diversions in January when the full closure is in place on the M6 will see all M6 Northbound traffic diverted via the A6 from J39 to J40 via Shap, Hackthorpe, Clifton and Eamont Bridge that will have a one way system in place so that traffic can only travel North onto Kemplay Roundabout that will not operate as a roundabout over the two weekends.

Southbound traffic will have a substantial diversion with HGV’s facing a four hour diversion via the A66, A1 and M62 via Leeds and Manchester.

Cars, Vans and other smaller road vehicles will be diverted from junction 40 via the A66 to Kirkby Stephen and on to Tebay to rejoin the M6 at junction 38.

Over 20,000 vehicles are expected to use the diversion routes each weekend during the closures with the post-Christmas and New Year traffic diverted from the M6 onto local roads along with the West Coast main line also closed for 15 days from the 31st December.

Concerns have been raised over the impacts on local communities and local small businesses over the two weekends that will make local travel “Almost impossible” according to one pub that relies on the post Christmas weekend trade in January with families and businesses still holding Christmas parties and meetups.

The local diversion routes for residents in communities south of Penrith will see diversions via Dacre and Pooley Bridge and via Langwathby.

Another big change to the local road network over both Weekends will be at Kemplay Roundabout that will not function ass a roundabout with traffic only able to travel East or West not around the roundabout.

Traffic heading along the A6 out of Penrith will be forced to divert via Carleton and out to Langwathby to join the A66 at the start of the Temple Sowerby bypass.

The full M6 closures with the diversions will be in place over the weekends of Evening Friday 2 January - morning Monday 5 January 2026 and the Evening Friday 9 January - morning Monday 12 January 2026

National Highways have said that this time of year has been chosen as independent analysis shows traffic volumes are lowest, and the diversion routes are the most suitable alternative routes and have been agreed with local authorities and emergency services.

They have also said they recognise that during both full weekend closures the local community will be disrupted and are working hard to reduce the impact as much as possible and will be providing residents with permits to access local roads and installing traffic enforcement cameras alongside working with Network Rail and stakeholders to identify other measures to mitigate the impact even further.

A spokesman for National Highways speaking with Penrith.Town this week about the M6 closure plans said:

“This an essential, once-in-a-lifetime Network Rail project to future-proof one of the most important railway routes in the country – crucial to the economy of the north, Scotland and further afield. Our support is vital to the success of the project and while there is never a good time to close the M6 this is one of the quietest times of the year.

“We appreciate the concerns of people living along the diversion routes. We are using different diversion routes for northbound and southbound motorway users and a third diversion will keep heavy goods vehicles away from Kirkby Stephen.  We have been in discussion with Network Rail over their plans for more than a year and planning for the closure has also involved liaising with local stakeholders such as Westmorland and Furness Council, affected local parish councils, businesses and communities.  We’ll be continuing those conversations in the coming weeks and this will include further information on how we’ll be reducing disruption for residents and road users.”