A ”75m project to increase the number of lanes on London”s notoriously congested motorway ringroad, the M25, came on line this morning (3 September).
Lanes in the busy Holmesdale Tunnel have been increased, while an extra lane has been added to the eastbound M25 through junction 25. Key tunnel systems, including lighting, ventilation, CCTV monitoring and incident detection systems, have also been upgraded.
The work has been completed three months ahead of schedule by the Highways Agency, a fact not lost on UK transport minister, Tom Harris:
”Refurbishing a tunnel, while keeping 120,000 vehicles a day flowing the site is no mean feat,” he said, adding: ”I”d like to congratulate the Highways Agency on completing this important scheme three months early.”
Adding motorway lanes is a highly controversial topic, with many arguing that any new capacity is simply taken up with extra traffic, but the Department for Transport insists the work has been done ”without any additional land take.”
The ”75m project was carried out by Costain on behalf of the Highways Agency.