Catherine Kedward was travelling from Atherton to Chadderton on Sunday with her five-year-old daughter. After leaving the motorway at Whitefield, a 20-minute journey turned into a six-and-a-half-hour diversion.
She said the delays left her daughter hungry, thirsty and needing the toilet, forcing her to improvise with a welly boot.
“It was horrific,” she said.
Residents living along designated diversion routes have also described severe knock-on delays throughout the weekend.
Another resident said plans to go shopping were abandoned because the motorway closure had made travel too difficult.
A third described trying alternative routes to avoid congestion, only to find them heavily clogged as well. He said: “Instead of coming down Sheepfoot Lane, we went on Middleton Road thinking that might be better.
“Unfortunately, even that was clogged up as well. It took us about half an hour longer than it would normally take. I had to ask my brother to drop me off on the road rather than outside the house.”
Despite the delays, he said he hoped the works would improve journeys through the busy interchange in the future.