£317 million UK highway project delayed

The £317 million project to upgrade Junction 10 of the M25 motorway around London, where it meets the A3, has been delayed. The work was initially planned to be complete in mid-2025 but will now take a further nine months to finish, owing to poor weather conditions in recent months.

According to National Highways, measures will be taken to ensure that congestion does not cause a serious problem before the work has been completed. The M25 around London carries the heaviest traffic of any UK motorway and is one of the busiest routes in Europe.

The junction upgrade project is required as traffic congestion occurs regularly at this point, causing long delays for drivers. Tailbacks are common on the M25 and also on the A3 and this has caused serious concern with regard to safety, given that fast moving traffic will be passing the long queues of slow moving (or even stalled) vehicles.

Construction work for the Junction 10 upgrade commenced in mid-2022 and is intended to boost the number of lanes available at the junction, tackling the congestion problem and improving safety for drivers.

Closures will have to be carried out. One Feb 21-24, the Junction 10 slip roads onto the A3 will be closed, although drivers will still be able to use the M25.  for two weekends in March 2025 to allow two old bridges to be demolished. The motorway will be closed between Junctions 10 and 11 from 9pm on Friday March 7 and 6am on Monday March 10, and for the same period from the 21st-24th March. On April 11-14, the A3 will be closed between Junction 10 and the Cobham Roundabout/A245.