M25 to close during daytime for the first time in its history

A stretch of the M25 is set to close for an entire weekend for the first time in its 38-year history[1]. Drivers are being warned of long delays during the first planned daytime closure[2] of a stretch of the UK’s busiest motorway. National Highways urged motorists to “only travel if necessary” when it shuts the M25 in both directions between junctions 10 and 11 in Surrey later this month.

The five-mile stretch will be closed from 9pm on Friday March 15 until 6am on Monday March 18. Motorists will be forced to detour more than 10 miles around northern Surrey while a footbridge over the motorway is demolished and a new gantry is installed. Traffic will be diverted via Cobham, Byfleet, West Byfleet and Sheerwater before rejoining the motorway at Chertsey, just south of the Heathrow Airport stretch[3].

The works form part of a GBP317 million improvement project, with National Highways warning that more closures are likely to follow later this year. National Highways project lead Jonathan Wade said: “Drivers should only use the M25 if their journey is absolutely necessary. “This is the first of five full closures of one of the busiest junctions on our road network.

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“We have spent months planning for these closures and making sure there are diversion routes in place, but there will still be heavy congestion and delays.

“These improvements will bring long-term benefits to drivers who pass through this stretch of the M25[4], not to mention pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders who will also see positive changes in the area.” A three-year, GBP317 million project will increase the number of lanes on the M25 around junction 10 and make it easier to enter and exit at the interchange, which is one of the UK’s busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions. A six-vehicle smash in January caused 16-mile tailbacks after a lorry, a van and four cars were involved in an accident between junctions 10 and 11.

Drivers were reportedly queueing for up to an hour to pass the accident area. The junction 10 project began in 2022 and is expected to last three years.

‘Delays? You ain’t seen nothing yet’

Four more closures will take place up to September.

No dates have been released for when they will happen, but the next is expected to take place in April. Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: “For drivers who’ve already had their patience tried by the queues at the junction 10 works, the phrase ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’ springs to mind. “National Highways’ plea for people to avoid driving in the area applies not just to trips on the M25 but also to those on surrounding local roads onto which the M25 traffic will be diverted.

“The hope must be that drivers take great care, however frustrating the delays and disruption might be. “The last thing we need is shunts or crashes, however minor, because the slightest mishap will compound the misery.” More than half a million vehicles are expected to be affected, including many travelling in and out of London, and to and from Heathrow and Gatwick airports[5].

On average around 270,000 vehicles use junction 10 of the M25 every day, National Highways said, with the motorway carrying between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles per hour between junctions 9 and 11.

This is the first scheduled daytime all-lanes shutdown on the M25 since it opened in 1986, the state-owned company said.

References

1. ^ first time in its 38-year history (www.telegraph.co.uk)
2. ^ first planned daytime closure (www.telegraph.co.uk)
3. ^ Heathrow Airport stretch (www.telegraph.co.uk)
4. ^ stretch of the M25 (www.telegraph.co.uk)
5. ^ Heathrow and Gatwick airports (www.telegraph.co.uk)