A46 fully reopens after car fire near Kenilworth

The A46 has fully reopened following a car fire near Kenilworth that closed the southbound carriageway between the A45 Coventry junction and the A452 Warwick junction. All lanes were confirmed open by around 3.30pm, after hours of recovery work, and the earlier delays of up to 30 minutes had cleared in both directions.

A46 reopening at a glance

The latest position reported by Nub News in its update published on 29 September 2026 was that the closure had ended. An earlier stage of the response had allowed traffic back onto two lanes, but a third remained closed while recovery and oil spillage treatment continued.

The full reopening is therefore a change from the earlier, partial reopening. Drivers reading reports of a remaining lane closure should note that the later update confirmed all lanes were available again.

The reopening time is approximate. The available account does not give an exact minute when the final lane restriction was lifted.

Where the southbound closure applied

The closure affected the A46 southbound between two named junctions: the A45 at Coventry and the A452 at Warwick. The car fire was reported near Kenilworth, placing the incident on a route used for journeys through the surrounding area.

Those junctions identify the limits of the reported closure. The source does not give a more precise position for the vehicle within that stretch, so it is not possible to identify a particular point along the carriageway from the checked information.

The distinction between the closure and the traffic delays matters. The road closure was described as southbound, while the final update said delays were no longer present in either direction. That does not establish that the northbound carriageway had also been closed.

No diversion route was included in the supplied account. The confirmed change for traffic was the restoration of access to the affected southbound carriageway, followed by the reopening of its remaining restricted lane.

How all lanes were reopened

The road returned to use in stages rather than through a single reopening. After the southbound closure, two lanes were opened to traffic while the third remained unavailable for continuing work.

Recovery and treatment of an oil spillage were the stated reasons for keeping that lane closed. This meant the return of some traffic did not mark the end of the incident-related restrictions. Work was still taking place before the whole carriageway could reopen.

The reported sequence was:

• The southbound A46 was shut following the car fire.
• Two lanes reopened while a third stayed closed for recovery and oil spillage treatment.
• By around 3.30pm, all lanes were confirmed open.

The account describes hours of recovery work, but it does not specify when the fire began or when the first two lanes reopened. A precise duration for either the full closure or the partial restriction cannot therefore be given.

Nor does the summary set out the individual recovery tasks or the method used to treat the spillage. What it does confirm is that the remaining lane restriction had ended by the time of the final update. The earlier report of a closed third lane was no longer the latest position.

Earlier A46 delays had cleared

Traffic delays associated with the incident had reached 30 minutes. By the final update, those delays were no longer present in either direction.

That gives drivers two separate pieces of information: the lanes had reopened, and the previously reported hold-ups had also cleared. An open road and the disappearance of earlier delays are distinct developments, both of which were confirmed in the account.

The 30-minute figure describes the earlier disruption. It should not be read as the expected delay after the full reopening, or as a measure of how long the road itself was closed.

The source does not provide queue lengths, traffic counts or a breakdown of delays at individual junctions. It also does not state when delays were at their longest. The supported position is limited to the reported peak delay and the later confirmation that it had cleared.

As with any traffic update, that information describes conditions at the time reported, rather than guaranteeing conditions for subsequent journeys.

Emergency response and outstanding details

Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene to manage the incident. Their attendance is confirmed, alongside the recovery work and oil spillage treatment that preceded the full reopening.

The supplied account does not include statements from either service or explain how responsibilities were divided at the scene. It also gives no details about what caused the car fire.

There is no information in the summary about injuries, the vehicle's occupants or the extent of damage to the car. Those points remain unreported in the checked material and should not be inferred from the fact that the road has reopened.

The update is principally a traffic-status report: it establishes that the closure and subsequent lane restriction had ended, without providing a fuller account of the fire itself.

What this means for Kenilworth

For people making journeys near Kenilworth, the practical change is that the affected southbound A46 stretch was available again across all lanes. The closure between the A45 Coventry and A452 Warwick junctions was no longer in place at the latest reported update.

Anyone whose plans had been affected by the earlier closure could distinguish the final position from the intermediate stage, when only two lanes were open. The remaining recovery-related restriction had been lifted, and the reported 30-minute delays had cleared.

The source does not describe effects on Kenilworth town-centre roads, local bus services or other nearby routes. It would therefore be misleading to extend the update into a claim that all local traffic conditions were normal. The confirmed improvement concerns the A46 and the incident-related delays reported there.