M181 in North Lincolnshire to reopen for football traffic this weekend

Scunthorpe United will welcome Chester to the Attis Arena for the promotion final on Sunday

Author: Julie CastonPublished 15th May 2025

It's been confirmed the M181 will reopen for football traffic this weekend.

It's after a consultation with the police and National Highways. The road had been due to close for the whole weekend with a diversion in place.

Now it means the the northbound carriageway on the M181 will reopen at 1pm on Sunday 18th May for incoming football traffic and the southbound carriageway will reopen at 6pm to let football traffic leave Scunthorpe via the motorway.

A full closure will then be back in place from 8pm until Monday 19th May at 6am.

Cllr Rob Waltham, leader of North Lincolnshire Council, said:

“We have been listening to the concerns of local residents, communities and businesses in relation to the closure of the M181 this weekend. Unfortunately, road closures are planned months in advance by all the teams involved and it is not always possible to know what events may be happening in the future, so it is unfortunate that the closure for this National Highways scheme has fallen on a busy weekend for Scunthorpe.

“We have been in talks with National Highways, the police and the contractor on site about issues caused by the closure on Sunday due to Scunthorpe United’s play off match and the Big Green Scunthorpe 10K and have been able to get the road reopened temporarily to allow football traffic to pass through, which will alleviate traffic in and around Scunthorpe.”

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