M25 reopens after drivers heed shutdown advice

Traffic on a five-mile stretch of the M25 in Surrey returned to normal on Monday after weekend works that closed part of the motorway finished early.

The "unprecedented" full closure on Friday night of one of the busiest stretches had threatened traffic chaos.

Jonathan Wade, from National Highways, said: "The congestion wasn't anywhere near as dire as you might expect."

The closure between junctions 10 and 11 was lifted at 22:00 GMT on Sunday - eight hours ahead of schedule.

Mr Wade said one of his "biggest concerns" was that people could become "blasé" about further closures.

The stretch of road was closed so a bridge could be demolished and a new gantry installed

Julia Lindon-Travers, who lives on Byfleet Road, near Cobham, part of the affected route, said the traffic was "surprisingly" fine.

"We expected it to be worse than it actually was, and I think the traffic was actually less than usual," she said.

Frances Porter, chair of Ockham and Hatchford Residents' Association, said she "bunkered down" and did not go anywhere over the weekend.

Ms Porter said Ockham residents had spent the weekend "enjoying weeding their front garden without streams of traffic that we normally have to contend with".

Drivers had been warned to avoid travelling on the Surrey section of the M25 over the weekend and there had been fears that there would be large tailbacks and long wait times.

Project lead Mr Wade said drivers had "taken on board our advice, which reduced traffic levels by over 50% and meant the length of time added to journeys was around 30 minutes".

He added that he was "delighted" the work had been completed early.

"Thank you to everyone for their cooperation that has made carrying out work on this major project to make journeys safer and reduce pollution much easier."

• Pictures show progress of M25 motorway upgrade

National Highways said this was the first of five closures between now and September and the date of the next would be announced "very soon to give people as much notice as possible". The works are part of a £317m upgrade to the motorway.

The road was re-opened following the demolition of the Clearmount bridge over the weekend.

Carriageway closures happened along and between junctions 10 and 11. People were told ahead of the weekend to only use the M25 if "absolutely necessary".

The carriageway between junctions 9 and 11 carries between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles per hour in each direction between 10:00 and 21:00 on a weekend, National Highways said.

This weekend's works led to the first planned daytime closure of the M25 - which encircles London - since it opened in 1986.

'Sleeping well'

An 11.5-mile diversion route was created to direct traffic along A roads; while some locals visited the empty motorway to take selfies.

Amanda Boote, of Woking Borough Council, told the PA news agency: "It's actually been a lot better than we expected, it's not gridlocked in the way that we thought it would be.

"It was built up a bit, but no different to how it might normally be. Actually residents are quite happy, they've been sleeping well because it's so quiet overnight."

Four more daytime closures of the M25 will take place up to September.

The project, due to be completed by mid-2025, will increase the number of lanes at junction 10, which is one of the UK's busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions.

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