M25 closure – live: Drivers warned of delays and 19-mile diversion as motorway shuts for full weekend

National Highways says it is necessary for “the installation of a bridge and gantry” as part of a £317 million project to improve junction 10 – which handles 300,000 motorists per day.

“Our improvements will reduce congestion, create a smoother flow of traffic and provide safer journeys for thousands every day,” National Highways says.

The organisation is promising:

• A larger roundabout with extra lanes to increase capacity.
• Free flow left turns at all four corners of the junction.
• New and safer routes for cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders.
• Improvements to the local environment and wildlife.

“Only travel if necessary”: that is the message from National Highways ahead of the second weekend shutdown of the M25.

Travellers accessing Heathrow and Gatwick airports will be affected, as will many motorists heading for Channel crossings in Kent.

These are the key questions – answered by Simon Calder:

This stretch of the M25 is part of the main route between the UK’s two busiest airports. Normally there are frequent coaches between Heathrow and Gatwick.

The easy public transport option is to take the Elizabeth Line from Heathrow to Farringdon in central London, which has a direct connection to Thameslink trains to Gatwick. The journey takes about 90 minutes.

National Express will run coaches between the two airports as well as longer links from Gatwick to other parts of the UK that use the M25.

Ed Rickard, network director for National Express, said: “Our dedicated teams have planned our coach service diversions to ensure all of our customers are able get to their destinations safely and as quickly as possible during the full closure of the M25 between junctions 9 and 10.

“The previous M25 closure in March was unprecedented, not having been seen since the 1980s, and yet our collective efforts meant that we were able to keep our coach network moving with customers experiencing minimal disruption to their journeys.”

The coach firm says people who are booked and wish to postpone their trips may do so free of charge.

Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent of The Independent, reported from the scene of the previous closure in March:

I spent several hours on the bridge where the A245 crosses the temporarily deserted M25. The most notable sign that not all was normal: the frequent passing of eastern European trucks, their drivers presumably unaware of the disruption until they arrived at the scene of the closure and were directed off the motorway.

Yet a Balkan lorry every minute or so does not comprise an invasion on the scale of War of the Worlds, even when augmented by an impressive number of National Express coaches.

Despite the fears of many local people, the threatened traffic standstill did not materialise.

On Saturday afternoon one of my local informants, Jackie M, concluded: “It looks like people have heeded the warnings. Just the usual hold up from Byfleet to Painshill caused by the traffic lights at Seven Hills Road.”

The absence of gridlock was one welcome surprise; the other is the presence of sightseers. I was joined on the bridge by a steady flow of locals who wanted to “take a few pictures and take in the marvel that is an empty M25” – the words of Simon Vassallo, who has lived in the area for 35 years.

Another local man, Terry Craig from West Byfleet, also savoured the sight. “It’s quite extraordinary to see the motorway, all of these lanes, just shut off,” he told me.

“Drivers should look to re-route or re-time their journey or use other forms of transport,” says National Highways.

During the first weekend closure of the M25 in March, disruption was minimal. Before the event Jonathan Wade, the National Highways executive responsible for the project, told The Independent that he advised local people to “decorate the bathroom”.

There is concern that after the absence of massive traffic jams last time, the motoring public may be complacent and assume that roads in the area will be clear.

National Highways now says: “We’re grateful to all drivers last time who avoided the closure and completed their journeys in other ways. We urge you to do the same again.

“You should only drive through this area during this closure if your journey is essential as we expect there will be long delays during this time.”

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:

“By Byfleet station we emerged from the pine trees, and found the country calm and peaceful under the morning sunlight.”

I recalled that line – from H G Wells’s War of the Worlds – at West Byfleet station in Surrey as I emerged from the first train of the morning from London on Saturday.

In this leafy corner of the home counties, all was “calm and peaceful under the morning sunlight” – until the first Bulgarian truck came thundering through.

The lorry had been diverted from its planned trajectory by the unprecedented closure of a stretch of the M25 orbital motorway around London.

And the A245 between Byfleet and West Byfleet has become part of a diversionary route – as well, I was to discover, as a temporary tourist attraction:

The M25 normally carries between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles in each direction every hour from 10am until 9pm at weekends between junctions nine and 11.

Here are some others facts about the motorway circling the capital city:

• The M25 cost almost £1bn in the 1980s
• Two million tons of concrete were used in construction.
• It was first designed to carry up to 100,000 vehicles each day, but now covers nearly double that.
• Construction was between 1975 and 1986, with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opening the final section

The RAC advised motorists to avoid travelling if possible and pack extra food and drink if they plan on using the M25 this weekend as stretches of the motorway shut for the entire weekend.

Alice Simpson, RAC breakdown spokesperson, said: “As this next M25 weekend closure immediately follows major national rail strikes which could see many more people take to the roads, it could be up to six days of disrupted travel for London’s drivers.

“The closures also coincide with the retrofitting of new emergency areas on all-lane-running stretches of the M25, meaning delays are likely between junctions 5 and 7 in Surrey and Kent and junctions 23-27 in Hertfordshire and Essex.

“With weekend temperatures reaching 25 degrees or even higher, it’s likely that routes around the 23-mile diversion will be busy as people make the most of the fine weather and jump in the car for day trips.

“Anyone heading to Chessington World of Adventures, which is close to the official A3 diversion route, should expect delays and pack extra food and drink in the event they’re on the road longer than expected.

“Holidaymakers heading to Gatwick or Heathrow should leave an hour earlier than usual and allow plenty of time for parking and security checks.”

The motorway – which is Britain’s busiest – will be closed in both directions between junctions 9 and 10 in Surrey from 9pm on Friday until 6am on Monday while concrete beams for a new bridge are installed.

National Highways senior project manager Jonathan Wade told drivers to leave extra time, follow official diversion routes and to “only travel if absolutey necessary”.

Diversion routes will take cars on a 19-mile journey on A roads, crossing from Surrey into London’s Ulez area, though National Highways has assured drivers “no enforcement action will be taken”.