Drivers who have planned trips this weekend have been told by National Highways to do something at home, like decorate the bathroom, as the M25 is set to close for a full weekend for the first time.
A five-mile part of the motorway between junctions 10 and 11 in Surrey will be closed in both directions from 9pm on Friday until 6am on Monday.
The closure will enable engineers to demolish a bridge and install a new overhead gantry as part of a £317 million project to upgrade junction 10, and four more closures are expected later this year.
Jonathan Wade, who leads the project at National Highways, said the work is necessary because the M25-A3 intersection 'simply cannot cope with the amount of traffic it’s currently handling'.
‘If you can either avoid traveling completely, find something to do at home – decorate the bathroom or something, or play in the garden,’ he told The Independent’s travel podcast.
‘If you must go, travel by train, walk, use a bicycle. I don’t mind really what you do.
‘Avoid driving anywhere around those diversionary routes around Painshill, Byfleet, West Byfleet on the eastern side of Woking. It will be in your interests.’
The M25 generally carries 4,000 to 6,000 vehicles in each direction per hour from 10am to 9pm at weekends between junctions 9 and 11.
Four more daytime closures of the motorway will take place up to September.
Drivers are being advised to disregard satnavs and only follow official diversion routes to prevent causing gridlock during the ‘unprecedented’ closure.
National Highways has stated that how well the area copes with the shutdown will partly depend on whether drivers stick to official diversions.
The Government-owned company estimates that drivers who follow signs for diversion routes on A-roads will have an hour added to their usual journey times.
It is concerned that some may try to find alternative routes via minor roads.
Senior project manager Daniel Kittredge added: ‘If people move away from diversion routes that we prescribe, it creates additional issues in different parts of the road network.
‘The majority of the time that will be local roads, so that really impacts residents in those particular areas.’
He continued: ‘That’s why we’re trying to encourage people to not follow the satnav.
‘Stick on the prescribed diversion route. It’s going to be more suitable for your journey.’
Motorists are advised to detour more than 10 miles around northern Surrey, via Cobham, Byfleet, West Byfleet and Sheerwater before rejoining the motorway at Chertsey.
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