Exact time M25 will shut down for 57 hours as drivers warned to stay away during closures on UK's busiest motorway
7 March 2024, 15:07 | Updated: 15 March 2024, 08:20
Drivers have been warned of massive delays along the M25 during the first planned daytime closure along Britain's busiest motorway.
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National Highways have alerted drivers of long delays, urging them to "only travel if necessary" when it shuts the M25 in both directions between junctions 10 and 11 in Surrey as part of a £317 million improvement project.
The stretch of carriageway - which extends for around five miles - will be shut down for 57 hours between 9pm on Friday, March 15, until 6am on Monday, March 18.
An estimated 200,000 vehicles will be affected, with many people making their way to and from London over the weekend.
Travellers wanting to head to Heathrow and Gatwick Airports will also have to face severe diversions, as well as those making their way to Channel ports.
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Around 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles an hour drive between junctions 9 and 11 on the M25 in each direction from 10am until 9pm at weekends.
The huge shutdown is the first scheduled daytime all-lanes shutdown on the M25 since it opened in 1986, National Highways said.
During the shut-down, a bridge will be demolished and a new gantry will be installed, before further closures take place until September.
As part of the £317 million improvement project, the next closure is expected to take place in April and will continue until at least summer 2025.
The M25's revamp will increase the number of lanes and make it easier to enter and exit at junction 10 - which National Highway said is one of the UK's busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions.
The project lead for National Highway 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.
"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, not to mention pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders who will also see positive changes in the area."
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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."
