M25 news – live: Motorway reopens early ahead of Monday rush hour traffic

Historic work on the M25 in Surrey has finished hours ahead of schedule, allowing the road to reopen ahead of Monday rush hour traffic.

A five-mile stretch between junctions 10 and 11 was shut in both directions on 9pm on Friday and wasn’t expected to reopen until 6am on Monday.

However at 10:30pm on Sunday, National Highways revealed that the road was now open in both directions following the successful demolition of the Clearmount bridge.

“We’d like to say a massive ‘thank you’ to everyone for your patience during this weekend’s closure of the M25 J10-11,” it wrote on X.

“The closure was to demolish a bridge and install a huge gantry. The road’s now open again, eight hours ahead of schedule. Thank you again for bearing with us.”

It comes after drivers were warned to stay at home as the unprecedented closure of the motorway was expected to cause a “carmageddon” of gridlock traffic over the weekend.

It was the first planned daytime closure of the motorway – which encircles London – since it opened in 1986.

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