Drivers in England warned to avoid motorway from 10pm Tuesday onwards
Hundreds of thousands of drivers have been urgently warned to AVOID the Dartford Crossing this week.[1] The Dartford Crossing, also known as the A282, connects directly at both ends with the M25 London Orbital Motorway, one of the busiest motorways in Europe. Carrying over 50 million vehicles a year,[2] the Dartford Crossing is designed to handle 135,000 vehicles a day, but the average is now 150,000 a day – with the busiest days seeing up to 180,000 vehicles using it. But motorists who use it regularly face closures this week, it has been warned.
National Highways detailed: “We’re re-waterproofing and resurfacing the bridge which carries the M25 anticlockwise carriageway between junction 31 (Lakeside) and junction 30 (A13) throughout July and August 2024. We made good progress last weekend; the hard shoulder and lane one across the bridge have been re-waterproofed and resurfaced.
“If you plan to travel via the crossing in the northbound direction while this work is taking place, please allow additional time for your journey.” From 10pm on Tuesday, 30 until 5:30am on Wednesday 31, Dartford East Tunnel will have no access for vehicles over 4.8m.
On Thursday, August 1, Dartford West Tunnel will be closed from 10pm to 5.30am. The following day on Friday, August 4, the West Tunnel will again be shut, but from 11pm to 6am. On Saturday 3 August, the QEII Bridge will shut from 10pm until 5am while on Sunday, August 4, Dartford East Tunnel will again have no access for vehicles over 4.8m from 10pm to 5am.
National Highways said: “We’re carrying out an extensive programme of repairs and maintenance work over the next several years to keep journeys safe and reliable for road users.
To keep disruption to a minimum, we carry out our work overnight, typically between the hours of 10pm and 6am.”
References
- ^ the Dartford Crossing this week. (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ Carrying over 50 million vehicles a year, (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^