M25 Motorway Closed For The First Time And Not The Last - What's The Point?
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- Опубликовано: 19 мар 2024
- #m25 #motorway #infrastructure
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For the first time since its opening, the M25 motorway is closed! What an exciting opportunity to see one of the busiest motorways completely empty and whilst we enjoy looking at that, I'll explain a bit about why it's closed and what we can expect in the near future. 
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The definition of insanity is not doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result, it's sitting back and letting National Highways come up with a plan.
@@Gods_Real Whoops, somehow said same....
Plan? How very optimistic and radical thinking of you😂
@@Gods_Real But somehow, you still knew what he meant
Vaas
It seemed like a pretty decent plan, opened well within time, widely communicated to people about the closure in the news, and relatively little traffic created as people bypassed the diversion through local road network.
You want infrastructure, you have to maintain it too, and maintenance includes adding new capacity like this.
Imagine thinking ahead, repairing and resurfacing the closed parts
That doesn't sound very British old chap. Half arse an already bad idea, that's the British way!
Hmm you're not from round here are you 🤔
Far too sensible...
Hahaha this is Britain
I was thinking the same thing. The road is a sorry state.
I'm practically speechless as the sheer level of incompetence on that project. Bravo!
Of course you could do better
@@michaelshore2300 no need for salt. ...
@@michaelshore2300Couldn't do any worse!!
@michaelshore2300 Don’t listen to him. You and your mates M25 project is astounding Michael. True innovators in logistics.
HS2 anyone?
I'm relieved to see they didn't take the opportunity to replace that noisy concrete surface with some of that new, quieter tarmac nonsense.
A concrete surface is more resistant to water ingress thus fewer potholes but a noisier surface and less grip. Most main roads were concrete until the end of the 60's
A concrete surface is more resistant to water ingress thus fewer potholes but a noisier surface and less grip. It also doesn't melt in high temperatures, the expansion joints do though and unlike tarmac can be laid when raining but not if frost forecast. Most main roads were concrete until the end of the 60's.
Ugh, hated driving on that. I was driving an L3H2 3.5t Renault Master typically, which has apparently got a wheelbase that is IDENTICAL to the length of those godawful slabs. Both axles would hit the joints simultaneously, making the whole van dance and really emphasise any and all imperfections in road surface level 😐
I feel like concrete roads could be better, like in the Phillipines and many south Asian countries concrete roads are common due to heavy rains, but they also make them very well and they are quiet.
I dislike the noise of the concrete road surface as much as I dislike the potholes because these surfaces are like going from one extreme noise to another.
That which was referred to as a 'security fence' is actually there as a noise reduction mechanism as this is probably the noisiest piece of motorway in the known universe (concrete and expansion joints)
I think you mean "expansion canyons" Driving this section makes you think you have square wheels. Living close to the M25 near here I can also attest to the ridiculous noise.
When I drive on this stretch, it sounds like there is something wrong with my car, horrendous noise!
And it's bloody awful driving on it!
lol try the m27 between 5 and 7
Very common in US cities - even had visitors ask why it's boxed in - they built the road too close to homes so they walled it off to dampen noise.
People everywhere in the UK have been saying "The M25 is closed" when really it is a small section of it, not the whole thing.
It's still novel
might have been a small section, but as a local resident, I can assure you that the M25 and A3 are super busy round there, and the closure defo was still big news because of that, as well as just being novel. I'm just by god hoping that the junction will even just get slightly better.
Well, actually it is closed, as in normal conditions you'd be able to do a full circle and you surely can't do that even if only one section is closed.
As someone who really needed to use Jct 10, it felt pretty bloody closed to me.
@@UrbExGear The M25 isn't a full circle though. It's got a break in it where is changes to an A road. You knew that though. I'll let you work out where it is. To give you a fighting chance A282.
Jon, don’t ever change your sense of humour. We need it, especially these days.
Exactly
Second that!
Third that
The cost overrun problem is not one of corruption as many people think, but more a mix of incompetence and lack of proper controls. Once the base budget is agreed, no-one cares about how much it actually costs, because the money comes from the public purse. I was once involved in a project where the paint colour for the inside of a public building was changed 14 times, over a period of 9 months. 4 different lots of paints were actually bought and then just thrown away because they couldn't be bothered to figure out how to to do refunds or resell on the open market as they didn't have the right policies in place to handle that. Countractors were booked and cancelled 4 times, but actually paid 3 of the those times because the cancellation came too late. Finally, half the building was painted one colour before it was changed again, requiring a repaint, at extra cost. This sort of thing is endemic in the public sector because no-one cares - it isn't their money, so why worry about it. No-one looks at the changes and makes a value judgement to ensure it is cost-effective, and it wastes huge amounts.
What colour did they eventually go with? (curious 🙂)
@@_Steven_S s***y brown?
The cost escalated because the project to improve the junction added the provision of a free access road for a huge housing development at Wisley. I cant see how there could not have been backhanders involved.
@_Steven_S probably magnolia!
As a consulting engineer - nothing more needs to be said.
I work with them as clients (albeit in a different area) and I have no idea what they're getting at with this scheme - it's like their traffic modelling software can only handle roundabouts and not a proper freeflow design of any sort. And that the people at the top are perfectly okay with that and don't want their staff to use logic. Also at 2:18 - that's actually noise fencing, which also doesn't work so well when you've left the entrance open...
Of course the people at the top are perfectly okay with it, if you solve a problem you cant be paid to fix it again in 5/10 years, and since they are not the ones standing in the rain doing the work and instead are sitting behind a desk in a lovely warm office drinking Prosecco all day, its easy money for no hardship
it seems to be indicative of a wider problem - many places recruit technical staff solely on grounds that they're well-spoken and politically OK, and actual skill is seen as obsolete
@@Lilgoth89 See also, potholes. What they could do is 50mm plane and inlay the entire network, a length at a time, and that particular surface would be pretty much guaranteed for 10-15 years, and they'd only need to renew the road markings.
But no, we'll just patch up, and when those patches wear out we'll patch those too. Creating more construction joints and thus more work a few months down the line.
Roundabout designs come standard. Free-flowing upgrades are extra - few £m for the initial redeployment and a few £10's million more in licencing.
Removing traffic lights from the roundabout is also extra....
🤣
The reason is that the A3 at that point is an original road. It's not a bypass that can be upgraded to a motorway and there are side roads off the A3 just south of the junction. There are farms and other property accesses off the road as well, plus two well renowned parkland attractions at two of the four corners of the interchange. That's why they didn't build a standard motorway to motorway interchange, and can't replace this junction with one either.
The drone shots along the empty motorway were "great, smashing, super", Reggie. Thanks for turning up and voicing what many of us suspect. All the best
I didn't get where I am today by coming up with well thought-out, future-proofed masterplans.
@@AJRead2😂😂😂
I live there. The roadworks have been a nightmare for years. A little while ago it took over an hour to get through on the A3 on a Sunday morning. During the closure, the diversion was right past my house, and we were expecting gridlock. In fact, the traffic was no worse than usual. Maybe they should shut the M25 permanently.
Back when it first opened and immediately filled to >100% of planned capacity one option to fix it was to permanently close around half the junctions. The reasoning was that much of the traffic was actually local and just using the M25 to move locally. If there were fewer junctions
It would be less use for local traffic and there would be less of it. That plan was rejected.
Thanks for answering a question of mine. I was wondering what the traffic was because all the news reports said it would be hell And delays of 5 hours 😂
@@justinadcock4536 I have a feeling that the media's scaremongering actually worked in keeping people away though. There was a lot of people saying they would stay at home that day.
I don't go on the M25 that often but I do use the A3. Since they started this thing, it has only made matters worse and there is still over another year before completion. The 50 average limit I assume is going to stay. It wasn't great before because everyone who wants to get on the M25 is constantly using the outside lane to jump in which is basically the same now except a lot worse so anyone who just wants to head on the A3 up to London just has to wait.
Same as me, the roads were quite quiet during that time, I was very surprised actually.
also ironically, during the closure of the M25, people all where so scared to drive in the area and use the A3 and M25, that the traffic was one of the smoothest ever along the A3 there, and there where not really many queues on the M25 cause people just didn't want to chance it. Probably one of the best flow rates of the A3 since covid ironically.
A lack of lanes on the slip roads ( 2 Lane slip to 4 lane roundabout ) causes the biggest hold ups at rush hour... they also took out a lot of decent trees
Everywhere else was buggered from people avoiding it though I bet.
Could also potentially attribute this to induced demand; when roads are closed people will make fewer trips.
great example of how building car infrastructure is actually the worst thing you can do for traffic, because it makes more people drive.
the best thing you could do for drivers is to make the alternatives to driving so appealing that only those who actually have to or enjoy driving will do so, then those people can enjoy roads that are basically empty.
No, it was actually ok, wasn't too bad at all. The roads were no more busy tbh. @@Del_S
Glad you covered this. What a senseless waste of time removing the bridge to put a gantry at the exact position. Will be funny if they place the new foot bridge in front of the gantry, blocking the signage!! It could happen!! 🤣🤣
I did read it was not up to modern standards, one big chunk rather than many parts and was not wide enough, designed for 3 lanes not 4.
It looks like the span of the gantry is longer than that of the old bridge, presumably so they can fit the extra left dedicated lane on each of the two slip roads that pass underneath. In addition, if the gantry is carrying signage for the junction, it probably needs to be in a specific place in relation to the junction.
Both comments above are correct. The bridge replacement is not all totally mindless.
@@sydnorth5868 If the new signage gantry is out by a few metres (which seems the case), then hardly the end of the world. Motorists are not going to go "OMG, that sign was three metres too far away!!!" If traveling at speed, you won't notice. If stuck in slow moving traffic, then you have ages to digest the information.
I love how dry this is explained, unlike the weather for the last 3 months ☔ 🙁
A few years ago, the traffic authority in Sweden needed to get rid of a bridge across a motorway just outside our capitol. Everybody expected a full closure over a weekend but managing traffic would be a nightmare. So they asked a demolition company "Can you get it done nighttime within 8 hours?" - it turns out they could...
We were told to make essential journeys only during this closure - Auto shenanigans visit to report this, was undoubtedly essential in my view ❤
Does anyone make unessential journeys?
Perfect video, highlighting exactly what everyone is thinking.
Brewery, party, organise, in, couldn't...
@@john1703 LOL
Speak for yourself. All I heard was fast, breathless moaning without any real insights in the video.
@@OldUKAds You have managed to make it sound like pornography.
The M25 reopened 8 hours early, so I'm sure the contractors will refund the taxpayer a few £m since removing the footbridge was obviously easier than their estimate.
Or a small donation to a political party results in them getting a hefty bonus....
No they get a bonus for early completion
Its normal to pay people more for doing better than expected.
@@johnclements6614 yes but if they over run the contractor pay out
Ever heard of contingency?
As a UK truck driver that worked right through lockdown when the roads truly were empty it was brilliant & a bit wierd a bit like a proper zombie apocalypse, nobody anywhere & nearly everything closed 👍✌
I hear you - I got all the way from Dover to Brixton, at 7am on a Tuesday, in about an hour, and only saw 6 other vehicles.
Rebelsinc; That must have been awful for you. Nobody to tailgate...
@@KRAMPUS1933 And no weaving in and out of lanes!
I had to go back and check the date!!!
I thought I might have fallen asleep and woken up on April Fool’s Day!!
Like you say, you couldn’t make this shit up!!
So the alterations are a complete waste of time and money, and those that thought them up are a complete waste of skin.
No change there then
And your solution is ???
Build a proper grade separated interchange for half the price? Every other country on earth could do it.
This fucking government and things costing twice as much...utter joke. I'm completely ashamed to be English these days...in Bristol where I live they cant even open the council tip for more than 4 days a week and driving into potholes requires a passport as you often leave the EU doing so.
Could be worse. You could be Australian... then the project would cost $4 billion AUD and still be utterly dysfunctional (c.f. the newly opened Rozelle Interchange in Sydney).
What would be the chance that the new pedistrian bridge will block the view of the signs on the gantry?
Can't believe that all these years on and the surface on that section is still the old plain concrete. Always a pleasure to travel that section - thump-thump-thump over all the joins. Must be one of the noisiest sections of motorway left on the network. We are all spoilt these days with the likes of tarmac surfaces designed to soak up the water and the noise, and our very nice radial tyres. Who remembers driving up the M1 with cross-ply tyres on your car, running over all that concrete. I remember the old signs on the motorways that warned you of surface noise. used to really howl inside my dad's old Austin 1300!
Their plan says winter 24/25 is laying the new road surface and installing signs throughout the project but I don't know exactly what that means, like what the new surface will be or if it will just be on the junction.
I know driving on that section in a lotus (a major lotus dealership is nearby) sounds and feels like someone is hitting your car with a hammer
@@georgehelyarit'll be shit, as everything seems to be in the UK these days.
Of course, there's also the ongoing debate about building 7,000 houses on the adjacent closed Wisley Airfield. They'll definitely need a new junction for that, so watch this space. Fun fact, Chris Rea used to live next to the Surrey stretch of the M25 and is said to have written Road to Hell about it.
He must've got two songs for the price of one from that journey...
Love the dry sarcastic delivery - it channels into many lanes what a lot of people are thinking, and not just for this specific endeavour. It's ironic that a 'design' that tries to avoid car crashes ends up being one.
So weird seeing an empty M25 as it’s either usually gridlocked or err… umm more gridlocked
I never realised so much of that section was raised on an over pass. Perhaps that explains why the road surface is sooo crap around there. ( On a lighter note. It reopened around 22:30 on Sunday which made my journey home so much smoother . )
blimey, that's unlike roadworks to be completed 6 hours early!
There was a monetary incentive in getting it done sooner.
While opening early is better than opening late, I didn't think it would open eight hours in advance. Just like when I predicted the new A14 to open December 2020 but actually opened a year earlier.
We need to thank the environmentalists for not getting the free flowing slip road we should have had, and by the way the security fence you mention is a noise barrier.
I was really hoping you’d get to drone the closed m25. Great video - nicely summarises the madness of short termism
a somewhat accurate summation of british road planning..
Jon for president of ministry of transport. Money saved, roads flowing, potholes filled, home in time for tea.
Someone somewhere is getting a HUGE backhander from this....
Now, Now, don't be so cynical. You mean consultation fees and why make a scheme last 30 years, when you can make it last 10 years, just in time be on the board of the company that gets those next lot of 'consultation fees'
@@heavyecho1 I know exactly what you mean. Back in 07 there was a general that approved an emergency veh purchase for the Army(uk) £400 million it was worth....and surprise...2 yrs after he left, board membership.
No back-handers needed - just add up the invoices for all the environmental, health and safety and diversity nonsense, and you've spent millions.
It is tory brexit britain so one can expect it yeah
@@redboyjan ...of course labour never takes bribes.....like blair did to drag us into 2 wars....
Dude, uploaded 20 minutes ago but already 500 likes and 2,200 views.
You've been smashing it. Your content is great!
20,000 views and 3,300 likes in 3 hours. Quite deserved appreciation. 🙂
Where did the money go? Well that's easy to understand Jon.
£17 million on the elongated roundabout
£300 million on feasibility studies and consultancy fees.
It allows the government to claim they've spent £317 million on improving the roads, which is handy in an election year. And pocket a nice fat consultancy fee as a back-up plan just in case the scam does not work and they find voters don't fall for it.
It's not really security fencing, it's noise fencing, to keep the noise of the motorway away from local residents.
Let's hope it's better than the "solution"they came up with on the M40 at the Cherwell junction where they put in a pointless roundabout that actually blocked traffic,when all they had to do was improve the on ramp from the services..
Empty motorways remember when we had that little bug a couple of years ago i was lorry driving at the time going up the M5 and over the Severn Bridge was lovely not a soul on it.
The footbridge demolition was not just "because it's where the new gantry needs to go." The existing footbridge abutments and in the way of the new/additional carriageways, so they had to go.
I just wished they had made a proper improvement, instead of just adding a few more lanes here and there. I believe that chose to not go for a bigger junction due to the fact that that would have to cut the local woods off even more and make it even less accessible for wildlife, but this new design just wont fix any of the issues. And as a local resident, this last year or so, and the remaining 2 years of its construction are absolute hell cause the roadworks have made it about 10x worse than before, and all that to not even really make it any better.
I'm a Scout leader and I planned a hike that was to cross that very footbridge back in November, only to arrive at it and find it closed... Thankfully there's another one a bit further to the west, but it meant a bit of a detour
Highways England could stand to take some lessons in engineering from Ireland - most of the major interchanges on M50 (Dublin's equivalent of M25) started out as roundabouts, but got converted into free-flowing junctions mostly within the same footprint of the original junction, albeit with some tight loops
M50/N7 (Red Cow Interchange, the main link to the cities in the south) is particularly complex, and it's not for nothing that it's known locally as the Mad Cow
Latest news is that they had to stop construction as someone got through a security gate and started flying a drone. National Highways naturally bumped the cost up by another £100k.
Really though, would much prefer pot holes on my local roads sorted first.
i remember getting onto the tracks between london bridge and cannon street through an open door. i was utterly pissed out of my skull and barely even registered that there were a bunch of hiviz men shouting at me.
can't imagine the average travel speed dropped by a significant amount, as on a regular day it's also very close to zero
Always appreciate a bit of GT music at the end. Great video as ever, Jon. Si.
In Canada, we can replace a whole 8 lane highway bridge between Friday night and Monday morning. They've also replaced a whole pedestrian bridge in hours, and yes, the signs go on the bridge. (Ottawa) That M25 gantry looked like our foot bridge.
They do seem to have a problem getting rail transit done, or even working properly, in Ontario at least. Strange that other places don't have this problem.
I like this video so I’ve pressed the button specifically for that 👇🏻
Right...
I nearly forgot to do so, thanks for reminding me.
I say we make a note in the calendar and hold John to account on his predictions! (Because we can't seem hold anyone whose actually making the decisions to account)
Poor John. He will have to come back and make another video. Glad it won’t be at the taxpayers expense. (John, I’m actually looking forward to that. Can you put it in your calendar now?)
Rinse and repeat. Great line.
It felt so good the first time.
Scarcasm which mirrors reality. Brilliant stuff Jon. 👏👏👍😀
Like most public projects the culture of “it’s not our money so who cares if we waste it” holds sway. The concept of value for money is totally alien in the public sector , whether it’s transport, health, defence,law enforcement or anything else. No wonder taxes are so high with very little to show for all that expenditure.
If you want real incompetence when it comes to road improvements look no further than the A465 between Brynmawr and Gilwern a distance of 4.97 miles, work started in 2014 with a budget of £220 million with an opening date of 2017. The reality was it opened in 2020 and £ 100 million over budget, during this time the road was completely closed over many weekends with a diversion of over 20 miles.
In 2023 it was announced that there would be multiple weekend closures for maintenance (for a 3 year old road!!!) But the real icing on the cake is that it now takes longer to travel that 4.97 miles because as where the pre upgraded road was 60mph now its 50mph.
That reminds of the A4 around Batheaston. I remember when that dual-carriageway opened in the 90s, and it felt like a relief to get somewhere to overtake all the slow vehicles that you'd get stuck behind on the quite twisty single-carriageway NSL A4 to the east (when heading westbound). But they decided to give this fast straight DC a 50mph limit and plonked a Gatso halfway along (on a new road, so no history of accidents to justify it being there). So you'll still be stuck behind some old Rover 214 towing a caravan.
I wish that junction was fully free flow. I hope the M1/M62 Lofthouse interchange will be improved further. Fully free flow junctions are uncommon for UK and even busy interchanges are at grade including a bunch of A11 roundabouts to Norwich.
Your sarcasm is unsurpassed!!Top man,always a plus when you vid.👍👍👍
Hats off to the people who design junctions and other road infrastructure. The logistics are baffling, so no wonder so many good ideas on paper fall flat in the real world.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone did consider an actual longer term solution but cost/construction time came into play so the cheaper half-arsed relatively short term solution was chosen instead so they can still boast that they're doing something.
when it's our name on the cheque, they care very little what it'll cost. it would seem it's the reason to inflate it as much as possible!
I live in the area and the traffic has always been horrendous. It's just even worse now.
so glad you did this one! great wrk risking the traffic chaos to get there in time to film it in the short moment it was being done!
The new "Gantry" will be for muliple cameras to capture the cars for the "pay per mile" and "time of day" pricing that is being introduced shortly.
Don't believe their denials - the entire point of all the high speed internet rollout with fibre funde by us all was to allow cameras to be used for " pay per mile".
The broadband rollout will be complete in the next two years at which time the new taxes will be intoduced.
Thank you Tax payers. 👍👍🤣🤣🤣. MP’s must have shares in this project
Balfour Beatty “won” the contract for the project - a quick delve into the origins of this company may confirm your suspicions.
This (and many other) projects do help pay my bills, so I’m not complaining too much about it
Those drone shots of the empty motorway are something else Jon!! Thanks for the interesting info and taking the time to go down and endure the surrounding chaos to get this.
It's amazing...I live in Tyne and wear and if I'm honest I couldn't give a toss about the M25...but you present your videos so well I just had to tune in.
now hear me out. i'm sensing some sarcasm in this video, i think. possibly.
Brilliantly sarcastic
To be honest, I've used junction 10 many times. Yes, there was always some traffic leading up to the roundabout, but I can't remember serious issues. It used to take around 5 or 6 minutes to get around it when it was busy. For the amount of damage done to the surrounding area and the cost, I would consider it a waste of money.
New drone? fixed drone?
The real reason for this project is to provide a new access road free of charge to developers who are building 1700 houses at Wisley. Amazing that the press completely missed this.
reminds of a chapter in this book
“But a bridge built primarily “to provide employment” is a different kind of bridge. When providing employment becomes the end, need becomes a subordinate consideration. “Projects” have to be invented. Instead of thinking only of where bridges must be built, the government spenders begin to ask themselves where bridges can be built. Can they think of plausible reasons why an additional bridge should connect Easton and Weston? It soon becomes absolutely essential. Those who doubt the necessity are dismissed as obstructionists and reactionaries.”
― Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
Love your optimism Jon!
Not too off topic; I have wanted to know for a very long time why street lights are getting taller and taller - and are pulsing white light LED's which is dangerous to eye health - and where did the excellent cats eyes go
Crowley at work, again? 😈
Perfect match of realism and sarcasm, love your vids.
M25 in fact closes various sections many times in a month, at night. Driving and following the diversions at night can be quite tricky, especially in the rain. The road ususally opens up again at 4:00 am. So most people do not notice the closures.
Sorry Jon, but the fundamental problem with your solutions is that they involve far too much common sense. And, as we all know, that's something that's generally alien to road planners.
The mistake people make is that the government is looking out for it's citizens, in reality the government only wants control: whether through revenue, legislation, or law enforcement. When all of the aforementioned are intertwined and are the Central focus of a government, common sense is the enemy, the government needs people miserable to maintain control, In my Hometown they tore down a high quality overpass on a major artery, the overpass allowed people to maintain 70 miles an hour and circumnavigate busy traffic on the road below it was easy to get on and off a lot of people used it it was very efficient for the population, Next thing you know they're tearing it down and replacing it with a stop light, Which is likely gonna create way more accidents longer commutes and complete inefficiency for everyone who uses the road, Why would they do this you would ask; longer commutes = more gas $$, more accidents = cost of insurance goes up $$, mechanic fees, towing services etc. Inefficient planning of road ways force bad driving habits, which makes for bad drivers which means increased ticketing, which leads to increased police presence, etc. The judge now has a job, as do lawyers, fighting legalities, etc. The hospitals are sustained with accident patients. You see the entire economy relies on inefficiency. You see the way its set up: no one has a job without death, suffering, and crime, That is the way the government looks at its citizens... It is a sobering thought, but indeed it is the truth.
This was a pub quiz question on Friday night and I only knew the answer because of your video - thanks!
During the closure I had to use the m25 at J11. Probably one of the easiest and least congested times I've ever been on it!
Ironically the only time the country as a whole has followed the government guidance is when they hear that the M25 is going to have even more delays!
You are so right John.. It needs free flowing interchange, you are so sensible
Brilliant as ever, thanks! What a surprise, a transfer of an extortionate amount of our money to very rich people for very little benefit. Whilst the rest of the road network crumbles. I love how they forgot to mention that the whole weekend was just to remove a footbridge, and that further closures are already booked in. By the way I think that massive wooden fence is that big because it's primarily a noise barrier. But equally leaving the door open will massively undermine that function too.
Cheers, i couldn't be bothered to read WHY the motorway was closed, but i had wondered 👍
Those free-flowing left-turn lanes will make THE WORLD of difference to that junction.
Brutal assessment.
Send this to England Highways
I went past this junct for 13 years at rush hour. The problem is the sheer volume of traffic and the traffic lights. An extra lane is just another lane full of cars. People want to get across to Guildford coming south of the M25 (from Heathrow). And you’ve got to stretch something over to fix that. Others you’ve just got a longer way around to the 3rd exit.
That is not security fencing, it is their to dampen the road noise, which is required as that section of the M25 is concrete. As for the bridge I believe it was not wide enough to cope with the changes to the exit and entry lanes.
was waiting for this video! I would love to see a video done on the old A3 form Guildford to Portsmouth. I live in a village called sheet near Petersfield and know my house used to be right on the motorway before the dual carriage way was built. I would love to see hat information there is about it, and any history. I think it could be really interesting! great vid!
Just to check. Do you think it'll help improve the junction? 😂 Bloody love your presentation. Having been impacted by this closure - it's pointless. And it'll not solve the issues here. Thanks for another great installment.
I remember working in lockdown for a couple of weeks and it was lovely doing 70 at 8am on the M25
John always makes me chuckle with some of his outlandish comments, because he is always right!
This is the best video I've ever seen about anything
Love your as always super positive last lines!
Having just recently moved away from the area after fifty years of residence, part of the reason for this expansion and destruction of trees to make way for the concrete, is the fact that they are building thousands of houses on the nearby Wisley airfield. No doubt adding thousands more vehicles entering the A3 and M25 from the housing estate.
I remember an accident closing the M26 a week after opening and miles of tailbacks in each direction on the A25? An early lesson in how new roads just attract traffic.
It's not the 'first time ever'. I've encountered a full closure before. Without warning or proper signage, and which dumped me without warning on the Hemel Hempstead magic roundabout after my satnav refused to cope.
Also, I abandoned the area for the weekend and fled to Bournemouth. I don't think I'm going there again; average speed cameras on approaches, steep hills, no decent shops, and fucking £19 for fucking haddock and chips. If I'm paying more than a tenner, I expect it to be cod!
Cheers mate 👍
Thanks for sharing 👍
Hi Jon, like it pull down a footbridge for a gantry sign and rebuild the footbridge that is good planning no cost no problem just like throwing money away, common sense put the gantry signs on the footbridge. Great video Take care
Hi, they also shut the Dartford crossing one sunday in 2005 due to a warehouse fire which can be googled.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one questioning roundabouts at motorway junctions as they are clearly the reason for massive queues all over the country, not only at this junction. I understand that it is easier and probably cheaper to construct a roundabout rather than a free-flowing junction, which, by the way, will work forever at no extra cost.
Went to Surrey for that weekend to the volksworld show at Sandown. Traffic up and down the a3 was the best I've seen it. 1hr 10 in a van to Portsmouth 👌
Great video John,must of caused havoc around the surrounding area 😡👍👌
I returned from the trip during that period and boarded a coach from Heathrow,
was wondering why the bus left M25 without turning to M3
Instead turned around somewhere before returned on the right way.
Thanks for sharing.
I drove over the bridge in Byfleet which crosses the M25 on Sunday, quite eerie seeing how empty it was.
Also thumbs up for the Gran Turismo 3 music.