The M25 motorway will close for a second weekend, prompting warnings that drivers could face even longer diversions this time around.
The London Orbital Highway will shut for five miles between Junctions 9 and 10 from 9pm on Friday, May 10 until 6am on Monday, May 13 after a similar closure in March.
Last month drivers were sent on an 11.5-mile diversion through the northwest of Surrey to avoid the closed stretch. But in May, detours will be twice as long, National Highways said.
Diversions will be in place from Junction 8, sending drivers on a 20-mile route via Epsom, Surbiton and Cobham. A different route will be in place for taller vehicles such as lorries.
Drivers could face reduced capacity – and potentially increased congestion – between Junctions 5 and 7 of the motorway on the same weekend.
Last month’s closure between March 15 and 18 saw relatively quiet roads dispute predictions traffic “carmageddon” as motorists heeded official pleas to stay away and avoid unnecessary journeys
Between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles normally use the M25 between Junctions 9 and 11 in each direction every hour from 10am until 9pm at weekends.
The work consists of building a new bridge across the road. It consists of 68 beams, each weighing 16 tonnes, together with another four beams weighing 40 tonnes.
National Highways is also carrying out planned works to install extra emergency laybys for the smart motorway section of the M25 near Gatwick.
Jonathan Wade, a senior project manager for National Highways, warned that next month’s closure will be “far from a repeat of the previous closure” because the diversion routes are “longer and will be different for over-height vehicles and all other traffic”.
“Drivers listened to our advice last time which reduced motorway traffic levels by over two-thirds and meant delays were limited. Our advice again is please only travel if absolutely necessary and make sure you give yourself extra time if you do choose to use the M25,” he said.
The March closure was the first time in the M25’s 38-year history that a stretch of the motorway had been closed to traffic between a Friday and a Sunday as well as the first time there had been a scheduled daytime shutdown since it opened in 1986.
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