Motorists advised to plan journeys ahead of ‘wide load movement’ along M6 from Heysham Port

The movement involves a huge electricity transformer being carried from the port at Heysham to a National Grid substation near Carlisle in Cumbria.

The operation begins at 6am on Thursday and will last around 12 hours.

The load, straddling two lanes of the carriageway, will need to travel north up the M6 from junction 34 near Lancaster and through Cumbria.

It will then move into Scotland up the A74(M) so it can turn and head south – re-joining the M6 and leaving the southbound carriageway via a gate adjacent to motorway at Harker just north of junction 44 near Carlisle.

National Highways abnormal loads manager Gordon Beattie said: “This is an unusually wide abnormal loads movement but we’ve been liaising with Lancashire Police and Cumbria Police as well as the authorities in Scotland to keep any disruption to other drivers’ journeys to a minimum.”

Drivers are advised to check traffic conditions before setting out on journeys.

Live traffic information is always available at www.trafficengland.com or from National Highways’ 24/7 customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Updates will also be posted to @HighwaysNWest – National Highways’ regional Twitter feed.