The Newshound

Britain's most hated motorway marks 40 years with new data revealing its worst traffic hotspots

Margaret Thatcher at the M25's opening; the worst-affected stretch, clockwise from junction 14 to 15, averages more than three times longer at 4pm than at 7pm.
Margaret Thatcher at the M25's opening; the worst-affected stretch, clockwise from junction 14 to 15, averages more than three times longer at 4pm than at 7pm.

Margaret Thatcher opened the M25's final 13-mile section on 29 October 1986 — but traffic experts warned then it was already too narrow, and 40 years on the road carries 150,000 vehicles daily against a design capacity of 100,000. New Geotab data pinpoints the worst congestion on the western arc between junctions 10 and 20, where the M3, M4 and M40 feed in near Heathrow. One motorist told Transport Focus the orbital ranked 28th out of 32 major trunk roads in the latest survey.

The single worst pinch point is the anticlockwise stretch from Thorpe to Chertsey between junctions 12 and 11, where traffic crawls at just 68% of the speed limit.

A quarter of van drivers in the South East have turned down work because M25 journey times are too unpredictable, with three in ten reporting customer complaints as a direct result.

The motorway that inspired Chris Rea's 'The Road to Hell' does have one quirk: near Epping, the Bell Common Tunnel runs beneath a cricket ground reinstated after construction.

MoreDaily MailBritain's most hated road, the M25, officially turns 40The TelegraphWhat I learnt on a tour of the M25 on its 40th birthday - The TelegraphThe IndependentM25’s worst traffic hotspots revealed as motorway turns 40Fleet NewsNew data shows traffic hotspots on M25 as it hits 40 - Fleet NewsNationalWorldBritain's busiest motorway turns 40 as the M25 marks four decades around London - NationalWorld
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