The Dartford Crossing is expected to close today with stagnant opening times to take place all week as crucial work gets underway.
National Highways revealed that from 10pm today, Dartford West Tunnel will be shut until 5am tomorrow.
The closures are to allow work on waterproofing, maintaining ventilation, electrical and drainage systems.
Other work taking place includes replacing tunnel bearings and repairing the concrete tunnel walkways, replacing expansion joints on the viaduct and replacing the panels which form the tunnel linings.
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The Dartford Crossing carries around 50 million vehicles a yearPAFrom 10pm on Tuesday, 30 until 5:30am on Wednesday 31, Dartford East Tunnel will have no access for vehicles over 4.8m.
On Thursday, August 1, Dartford West Tunnel will be closed from 10pm to 5.30am.
The following day on Friday, August 4, the West Tunnel will again be shut, but from 11pm to 6am.
On Saturday 3 August, the QEII Bridge will shut from 10pm until 5am while on Sunday, August 4, Dartford East Tunnel will again have no access for vehicles over 4.8m from 10pm to 5am.
For vehicles which fail to meet the height requirements, they will be diverted via the West Tunnel with vehicles between 4.8m and 5m high diverted via M25 clockwise.
The Dartford Crossing is currently the only way to cross the Thames east of London by road and links Essex and Kent via the QEII bridge for southbound traffic and two 1.4km-long tunnels for northbound journeys.
The A282 also connects directly at both ends with the M25, one of the busiest motorways in Europe.
A contraflow diversion will be installed through the east tunnel to maintain southbound travel and help limit the delays it can cause drivers.
National Highways detailed: “We’re re-waterproofing and resurfacing the bridge which carries the M25 anticlockwise carriageway between junction 31 (Lakeside) and junction 30 (A13) throughout July and August 2024.
“We made good progress last weekend; the hard shoulder and lane one across the bridge have been re-waterproofed and resurfaced.
“If you plan to travel via the crossing in the northbound direction while this work is taking place, please allow additional time for your journey.”
The next planned closures, which will also require an east tunnel closure, will take place between 8pm and 10am on Saturday 10 to Sunday 11 August and the weekend after on Saturday 17 to Sunday 18 August.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Tunnel closures to allow waterproofing work to take place
PAThe Dartford Crossing carries over 50 million vehicles a year with an average of 150,000 a day, with the busiest days seeing up to 180,000 vehicles using it.
To keep disruption to a minimum, National Highways mainly works overnight, typically between 10pm and 6am.
