The M25 in Surrey is set to reopen on Monday after an initially scheduled daytime motorway closure, with one councilor saying congestion was not as bad as expected.
The five-mile stretch of motorway between junctions 10 and 11 was closed to traffic in both directions at 9pm on Friday and remained closed until 5:30am.
Unprecedented road closures on the south-western section of the circuit route have raised concerns that thousands of motorists will be stuck in traffic over the weekend.
Although some congestion had built up, at one point stretching for two miles, traffic along the new route through the towns of Byfleet, West Byfleet, Woking and Ottershaw was not as bad as feared.
Woking Borough Councilor Amanda Butte told Penn State News Agency:
“It’s been a little bit built up, but it’s no different than normal. In fact, the residents are very happy and it’s very quiet at night so they sleep well.”
South East National Highways shared images with X on Sunday morning of the new gantry being guided into position by a crane, announcing that work is progressing as planned.
It announced on Saturday night that “good progress” had been made in the first 24 hours of work to demolish the bridge.
It was the first scheduled daytime closure of the M25, which encircles London, since it opened in 1986.
Some locals visited the empty highway to take selfies.
An 11.5-mile detour was created to direct traffic along Road A.
The M25 typically transports between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles per hour in each direction between junctions 9 and 11 between 10am and 9pm on weekends. This includes many air passengers flying to and from two of the UK’s busiest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick.
There will be four more daytime closures of the M25 until September.
The project is due to be completed in summer 2025 and will increase the number of lanes at Junction 10, one of the UK’s busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions.
