Five full closures of the M25 in 2024

[Mogster]

BBC News: M25 closures: Work 'on schedule' as Monday rush hour looms

Happy to be wrong in this case

 

[brad465]

Reopened 8 hours ahead of schedule, perhaps they can takeover building of HS2 next:

M25 reopens after drivers heed shutdown advice

The unprecedented weekend closure took place on one of the country's busiest stretches of motorway.

www.bbc.co.uk

Work on a stretch of the M25 has finished with the road being reopened eight hours ahead of schedule - before Monday's rush hour.
The "unprecedented" daytime closure of one of the country's busiest stretches came into force at 21:00 GMT on Friday.
The five-mile stretch was due to be closed until 06:00 on Monday.
But just after 22:00 on Sunday National Highways South-East said the road was open in both directions following the demolition of the Clearmount bridge.
Drivers had been warned to avoid travelling on this section of the motorway over the weekend and there had been fears that there would be large tailbacks and long wait times.
But National Highways project lead Jonathan 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."

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.
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.
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 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 in summer 2025, will increase the number of lanes at junction 10, which is one of the UK's busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions.

 

[swt_passenger]

BBC News: M25 closures: Work 'on schedule' as Monday rush hour looms

I noticed the BBC started that ‘as Monday rush hour looms’ part of the headline fairly early on Sunday morning. Anyone would have thought they were hoping for failure.

 

[nlogax]

I noticed the BBC started that ‘as Monday rush hour looms’ part of the headline fairly early on Sunday morning. Anyone would have thought they were hoping for failure.

Standard news media tactic. The merest vague threat of something bad is still considered newsworthy.

 

[swt_passenger]

Standard news media tactic. The merest vague threat of something bad is still considered newsworthy.

They’ll have completely ignored all the previous occasions when similar bridges have been demolished onto a temporary crash deck covering the road surface. With numerous firms having successfully done this sort of job already, it was comparatively risk free. The BBC will probably have missed them happening if they were too far from London…

 

[The Planner]

Reopened 8 hours ahead of schedule, perhaps they can takeover building of HS2 next:

M25 reopens after drivers heed shutdown advice

The unprecedented weekend closure took place on one of the country's busiest stretches of motorway.

www.bbc.co.uk

Same happens on the railway anyway, there will be a load of back end float. The jobs often get handed back early, but as there are no trains to run, no one notices.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Were cars on the diversion route exempted from ULEZ, given part of it was within the M25?

 

[simonw]

Were cars on the diversion route exempted from ULEZ, given part of it was within the M25?

Which part of the diversion do you think fell within the ULEZ?. The m25 doesn't always mark the limit of the ULEZ.

 

[Snow1964]

Were cars on the diversion route exempted from ULEZ, given part of it was within the M25?

It is nowhere near the ULEZ boundary, there is a historic anomaly which goes back to the old GLC night truck zone, where the road from end of M3 at Sunbury to Hampton Court Bridge and A309 to A3 is outside (although within a London borough).

This anomaly was due to the old Walton bridge having a weight restriction (it was rebuilt about decade ago and the alternative route via Hampton Court Bridge doesn't need to be outside ULEZ anymore), but the team doing ULEZ legislation didn't notice.

There is also a route from Tolworth to Surbiton (within London boroughs) outside ULEZ in SW London, to provide a route avoiding low bridges near Thames Ditton

 

[Starmill]

Were cars on the diversion route exempted from ULEZ, given part of it was within the M25?

The clean air zone boundary tracks not far from the county boundary, though of course not usually precisely along it. But in this area, as in several of the Home Counties, the motorway runs some way out from the London boundary.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Re the ULEZ boundary... it's overlayed on Google Maps on this TfL webpage - or see this PDF map of the zone.

 

[Peter Wilde]

In terms of closures for this rebuild, they have pretty much stuck to the timetable.

Maybe, in the easy sense in terms of sticking to each closure shortly after they’ve announced it. The project as a whole however is running late. The re-routed Wisley Lane, over a new bridge over the A3, was supposed to open “in autumn 2023”. The bridge is built, but the road over it is still not open now; well into spring, so is 6 months late at least.

 

[DelW]

Maybe, in the easy sense in terms of sticking to each closure shortly after they’ve announced it. The project as a whole however is running late. The re-routed Wisley Lane, over a new bridge over the A3, was supposed to open “in autumn 2023”. The bridge is built, but the road over it is still not open now; well into spring, so is 6 months late at least.

Probably a result of the amount of rain, and number of wet days, that we've had, during last summer and autumn as well as over the winter. Many years ago I worked as an earthworks engineer, and I'd hate to have been trying to progress a muck shift operation in the conditions we've had for much of the duration of this project.

I do hope that it might be pulled back onto schedule though. After several experiences of being stuck in queues for half an hour or more even well outside peak times, I now avoid J10 at all costs, even though my best diversion route adds around ten miles to one of my regular journeys.

 

[Joe Paxton]

The next weekend closure has been announced by National Highways:

15 April 2024

Announcing our second full weekend closure ​

We can now confirm that the M25 will be shut between junctions 9 (A243 Leatherhead) and 10 (A3 Wisley) from 9pm Friday 10 May to 6am Monday 13 May 2024
[...]

(Underlining is mine.)

Worth noting this closure is for a different stretch of the M25 to last time - this closure is between Junctions 9 and 10 (the previous closure was between J10 and J11).

Again, all best avoided!

 

[MotCO]

The next weekend closure has been announced by National Highways:


(Underlining is mine.)

Worth noting this closure is for a different stretch of the M25 to last time - this closure is between Junctions 9 and 10 (the previous closure was between J10 and J11).

Again, all best avoided!

The danger is that, because last time there were relatively few problems, people will not avoid the area in such large numbers, so the queues will be worse.

 

[corfield]

The frustrating thing about the M25/A3 section closures is that all this disruption and expense is for a not very good solution to what has long been a massive congestion spot.

Like the years we had of mess at Black Cat only to now face years more as they eventually build the multi-stack junction that was always needed.

The A3/M25 needs a M3/M4/M40/M1/A1(M) style fully (or nearly so) free flowing junction. Not just some left turn lanes and a bigger roundabout to queue on.

It is a poor sign that we cause so much hassle and spend so much on what we know is at best unsatisfactory. The Victorians would shoot us.

 

[Meerkat]

The frustrating thing about the M25/A3 section closures is that all this disruption and expense is for a not very good solution to what has long been a massive congestion spot.

Like the years we had of mess at Black Cat only to now face years more as they eventually build the multi-stack junction that was always needed.

The A3/M25 needs a M3/M4/M40/M1/A1(M) style fully (or nearly so) free flowing junction. Not just some left turn lanes and a bigger roundabout to queue on.

It is a poor sign that we cause so much hassle and spend so much on what we know is at best unsatisfactory. The Victorians would shoot us.

They wanted to build a bigger junction but the location is surrounded by rare Heathland and Wisley garden. In an area with plenty of people with the time, skills, money, and connections to make a big fuss.
The version they are building will make a massive difference with the free flow lanes avoiding the roundabout and a much bigger roundabout for the rest. Also the extra A3 lanes will mean the A3 is less disrupted by the leaving/joining traffic, and getting rid of the Wisley Lane junction makes things smoother for both the A3 and the large numbers going to the gardens (it has huge car parks)

 

[hwl]

They wanted to build a bigger junction but the location is surrounded by rare Heathland and Wisley garden. In an area with plenty of people with the time, skills, money, and connections to make a big fuss.
The version they are building will make a massive difference with the free flow lanes avoiding the roundabout and a much bigger roundabout for the rest. Also the extra A3 lanes will mean the A3 is less disrupted by the leaving/joining traffic, and getting rid of the Wisley Lane junction makes things smoother for both the A3 and the large numbers going to the gardens (it has huge car parks)

Agreed and they have passive provision (space) for free flow right hand turns later with the design currently being built.
In reality two of the free flow right hand turns were more "politically" sensitive (those start or landing in the "Wisley Gardens" corner - the 2 A3 to M25 ones) than the other which leaves a sensible half way house for adding two free flow right hand turns later (M25 to A3) which would just leave 99% of roundabout traffic as A3 to M25 right hand turns.

The new roundabout will be much better with much larger "diameter" and 4 lanes (instead of 3) which segregate on each link into: 2 for next left, 2 for the following left with the 2 right lane automatically pushing users across to the left pair on the next link. With segregation by pairs no need for users to merge in lanes.