Drivers are being warned to avoid travelling in the vicinity of the M25 Surrey leg this weekend as National Highways carries out its first-ever planned closure.

National Highways has warned drivers to only travel if necessary as long delays are expected

It’s shutting a five-mile section of the motorway – between junctions 10 and 11 – from 9pm Friday 15 March to 6am Monday 18 March 2024.

The closure will enable the demolition of the Clearmount bridleway bridge and the installation of a large gantry.

It’s the first scheduled daytime all-lanes shutdown on the M25 since it opened in 1986 – and National Highways has warned drivers to only travel if necessary as long delays are expected.

A spokesperson said: “We have spent months planning for these closures and making sure there are diversion routes in place, but there will still be heavy congestion and delays.”

Drivers who do take to the roads are advised to avoid their sat-navs and stick to official diversion routes.

These routes are the same for both directions:

• Junction 10 – Junction 11: North bound A3 to Painshill Junction, A245 towards Woking, and then A320 to M25 Junction 11.
• Junction 11 – Junction 10: A320 south towards Woking, A245 towards Byfleet and Painshill junction, Southbound A3 to Junction 10.

Drivers can also take the M25 in the other direction to avoid the closure – but regardless are warned to leave “a lot of extra time” for journeys and to keep checking status updates here.

Jonathan Wade, National Highways’ project lead, said: “What we’ve been doing is encouraging drivers, long-distance drivers, to use the eastern side of the M25 via the Dartford crossing – certainly, if you’re coming up from Kent and the South East and heading up towards the Midlands or to the West.”

He continued: “We really would encourage as many people as possible to avoid the area entirely, change their plans, go shopping on Thursday night rather than Saturday morning, or take the train.”

According to National Highways, the carriageway between junctions 9 and 11 carries between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles per hour in each direction between 10am and 9pm on a weekend.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “For drivers who’ve already had their patience tried by the queues at the junction 10 works, the phrase ‘you ain’t seen nothin’ yet’ springs to mind.

“National Highways’ plea for people to avoid driving in the area applies not just to trips on the M25 but also to those on surrounding local roads onto which the M25 traffic will be diverted.

“The hope must be that drivers take great care however frustrating the delays and disruption might be – the last thing we need is shunts or crashes, however minor, because the slightest mishap will compound the misery.”

National Highways said the work needs to be carried out now to continue the progress on the delivery of the scheme which is due to open to traffic next summer.

Four more full closures are planned for the coming months.