Two people have been taken to hospital after a crash on the A19 which left one car on its roof.
Emergency services were called to the scene near Easington Services just after 8am on Friday morning.
Four vehicles had collided near the A182 junction in County Durham and the road had to be fully closed by police.
Highways England put a diversion in place but traffic was left queuing for more than 30 minutes in four-mile-long queues.
A spokeswoman for Durham Constabulary said it was believed that one driver suffered minor injuries.
Further information is not yet known.
A spokeswoman for the North East Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 8.13am to a road traffic collision on the A19 at the junction of Stockton Road near Easington.
“We dispatched a double crewed ambulance and a rapid response paramedic and transported two patients to Sunderland Royal Hospital.”
The road reopened at around 10am.
