A few of you messaged me about the traffic in Funchal and it seems this was the problem.
Traffic on 5 de Outubro and 31 de Janeiro streets was very congested in the early afternoon.
At the same time, the expressway, in the west direction, between the exit for Santo António and the exit for São Martinho, in Funchal, was completely interrupted, with traffic being diverted to the Santo António exit.
According to JM, the road was being washed due to an oil spill from a truck, supposedly the same one that JM reported this morning.
The traffic diversion caused long queues of traffic on this carriageway.