The closure of one of the tunnels at Dartford Crossing for emergency repairs saw six miles of congestion at the height of the queues. Even after the anticlockwise tunnel reopened, there was still congestion until Sunday evening the M25. The tunnel has since re-opened.
National Highways said emergency repairs had to be carried out to the road surface and then safety checks before the route could reopen. The overrunning of the routine maintenance works due to finish at 5am today was because a defect was found in the infrastructure. The tunnel had to shut for repairs, says Kent Live.
Anticlockwise traffic was affected from Junction 1a A206 for Dartford, with drivers facing lengthy waits, with queues back to Swanley Interchange during one period.
Traffic monitoring site Inrix reported at 3.40pm: “Severe delays due to earlier emergency repairs on M25 Dartford Tunnel anticlockwise from J1A A206 (Dartford) to J31 A1306 (Lakeside / Purfleet). Congestion to the Swanley Interchange. Repairs are now complete and the westbore tunnel has fully re-opened.”
(Pic: KentOnline)
