A man has died after a road accident on the A1M in Gateshead.
It happened just 0300 GMT on Wednesday close to the Coal House roundabout.
The incident closed the southbound carriageway for more than six hours.
A spokesman for Northumbria Police said the man, who has not yet been named, lost control of a Vauxhall Cavalier, which crashed into the central reservation.
No other vehicle was involved in the incident.
The man was taken to Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
Christmas Eve traffic shopping traffic, which uses the A1 route to get to the popular MetroCentre complex, had to be diverted through Team Valley for a time.
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