 Poster: A snowHead
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I know this has been mentioned in passing in other threads, but for anyone intending travelling via Heathrow or Gatwick this weekend Drivers have been warned to expect "heavy congestion and delays" ahead of an unprecedented full weekend closure of a section of the M25 in Surrey.
A five-mile stretch of the busy motorway will be closed from 21:00 GMT on Friday until 06:00 on Monday between junction 10 for Guildford and junction 11 for Chertsey. Jonathan Wade, project lead at National Highways, said: "We have spent months planning for these closures and making sure there are diversion routes in place, but there will still be heavy congestion and delays."
The closure is to enable the demolition of a bridge and the installation of a new gantry - part of the junction 10 improvement scheme due to be completed in mid-2025. It is the first time there has been a scheduled daytime shutdown of all lanes on the M25 since it opened in 1986.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We are heading to Gatwick from Guildford for a 5.50am flight on Sunday. We don't need the closed bit of the M25, and are hoping that at 3am there will be little enough traffic about that going through J10 from A3 to go east on M25 will be OK.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| karin wrote: |
| We are heading to Gatwick from Guildford for a 5.50am flight on Sunday. We don't need the closed bit of the M25, and are hoping that at 3am there will be little enough traffic about that going through J10 from A3 to go east on M25 will be OK. |
Why risk it? At that time in the morning going cross country can't take so much longer. The traffic pitched off the M25 will have to go somewhere.
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@karin, is J10 actually going to be open? As @DJL, says just go cross country and avoid going anywhere near it.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| karin wrote: |
| We are heading to Gatwick from Guildford for a 5.50am flight on Sunday. We don't need the closed bit of the M25, and are hoping that at 3am there will be little enough traffic about that going through J10 from A3 to go east on M25 will be OK. |
It's a really easy drive avoiding motorway (especially that time of morning) .... A25 to Dorking, then to Reigate and turning right there onto A217 is direct to Gatwick. You don't need A3, M25 or M23 at all.
Very easy route to follow out of Guildford with just continuing A25 and very simple to Reigate.
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| Pamski wrote: |
| @karin, is J10 actually going to be open? As @DJL, says just go cross country and avoid going anywhere near it. |
I haven't seen the closure scheme (elected to go nowhere near that whole area this weekend) but the new bridge supports when I went through there this week are on the east side of M25 junction to accommodate the new bridge roadway.
It suggests that slips from east M25 approach will be open as they'd have closed jcts 10~9 as well...... but with volume through there generally significant at most hours, I'd avoid at any cost.
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I'd agree - why risk it? The journey through Dorking should not be a problem - it's shorter. Slower when the M25 is flowing well. But......
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I know there are options. We're not actually going from Guildford, it's Ripley, half way between Guildford and M25, so a little more cross country to get to A25. The jury is still out on which way to go, probably dependant on the traffic colours on Google when we leave.
J10 must be open, though, because otherwise it would actually be closed from 9 to 11 if nothing can get on or off at 10, and no-one can go on the 10 - 11 stretch.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I suppose the sensible thing is to allow the extra 15 minutes and check google maps with Live traffic before you set off. A3>M25 clear, go that way, if clogged up go cross country. Not rocket science.
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| karin wrote: |
I know there are options. We're not actually going from Guildford, it's Ripley, half way between Guildford and M25, so a little more cross country to get to A25. The jury is still out on which way to go, probably dependant on the traffic colours on Google when we leave.
J10 must be open, though, because otherwise it would actually be closed from 9 to 11 if nothing can get on or off at 10, and no-one can go on the 10 - 11 stretch. |
Thats easy too, turn into the road by the bakery (very good pies, and butterscotch tart in there  ) follow to end and turn right onto A246, then left onto A25
There's no short (timewise) way out if you're on the A3 really. Just a fret if you get delay against your check in time .
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ripley, Send Roundabout, Onslow Arms, West Chandon, Newlands Corner, Shere, Gomshall, Dorking,
Then either south and x-country to Gatwick west, or to Reigate and south to Gatwick east.
But I wonder what Reigate will be like because of the M25? At 3.15am it should be fine
Good luck
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Nb the A25 has a 40mph speed limit from Guildford to Reigate and that still applies at 3am! I’d go on A246 from Guildford to Leatherhead and join the m25 there.
Surrey roads are also currently full of potholes!
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@DJL, exactly.
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You know it makes sense.
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| snowymum wrote: |
| Surrey roads are also currently full of potholes! |
A bit sad for probably the richest county in the UK.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Just watched the BBC News playing hunt the traffic jam (and failing miserably). Folks must have heeded the warnings!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@chocksaway, yep, looking at the traffic on Google maps, the queue up the A3 to get to the M25 is no longer than it usually is
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| ski3 wrote: |
| karin wrote: |
I know there are options. We're not actually going from Guildford, it's Ripley, half way between Guildford and M25, so a little more cross country to get to A25. The jury is still out on which way to go, probably dependant on the traffic colours on Google when we leave.
J10 must be open, though, because otherwise it would actually be closed from 9 to 11 if nothing can get on or off at 10, and no-one can go on the 10 - 11 stretch. |
Thats easy too, turn into the road by the bakery (very good pies, and butterscotch tart in there ) follow to end and turn right onto A246, then left onto A25
There's no short (timewise) way out if you're on the A3 really. Just a fret if you get delay against your check in time . |
Guildford, Horsham, Crawley, Gatwick. Simple.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Well that all turned out to be a fuss about nothing. Drove straight up A3 and through the junction. It was deserted. Fortunate, really, as we then had to do a u-turn at Cobham services and go through the junction twice more because the type 1 diabetic had left their insulin in the fridge in Ripley...
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Apart from a bit of queuing on the slip roads at J10, and around Silvermere, everywhere else appears to be more or less fine.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Worked fine for me earlier today. Usual press hype, so that they don’t have to produce any real journalism.
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Was fine yesterday morning and evening, in fact was flowing better than normal, I wish they’d tell people not to use it more often. But that was only between the M4 & M40.
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@Bob, Or all the 'press hype' actually did it's job and kept folks away?
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[quote="MorningGory"]@Bob, Or all the 'press hype' actually did it's job and kept folks away? [/quote
A sad state of affairs when people need scaremongering rather than common sense.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| MorningGory wrote: |
| @Bob, Or all the 'press hype' actually did it's job and kept folks away? |
+1
Similar thing happened in central London way back when they had a triple strike - bus, rail, & tube. Lots of horror stories in the press put everyone off commuting the first day, so the roads were clear as a bell - as was the air quality. That was then reported as "Don't believe the hype" and chaos ensued on the second strike day. And "the Smoke" went back to its pre-ULEZ normal.
For info, here's some of the very interesting thoughts that have gone into the closure of the South West Quarter of the M25:
https://x.com/MichaelDnes1/status/1768566977721688142 (Twit/X login needed for rest of thread)
- but especially liking the idea of "demand destruction".
So it looks like sanity, & the infamous "experts" have prevailed, despite what looks like a reverse Operation Stack on the M20:
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sun 17-03-24 14:41; edited 3 times in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Dylan_T42 wrote: |
| MorningGory wrote: |
| @Bob, Or all the 'press hype' actually did it's job and kept folks away? |
+1
Similar thing happened in central London way back when they had a triple strike - bus, rail, & tube. Lots of horror stories in the press put everyone off commuting the first day, so the roads were clear as a bell - as was the air quality. That was then reported as "Don't believe the hype" and chaos ensued on the second strike day. And "the Smoke" went back to its pre-ULEZ normal.
For info, here's some of the very interesting thoughts that have gone into the closure of the South West Quarter of the M25:
https://x.com/MichaelDnes1/status/1768566977721688142
- especially liking the idea of "demand destruction".
So it looks like sanity, & the infamous "experts" have prevailed, despite what looks like a reverse Operation Stack on the M20:
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Talk about conflating, in the extreme, two completely different events..... and complete Bullux too 
"Way back when" ? Ulez across wider London area has not been in place one year until September, and relevance to "the smoke" .... how is the resolution inplace to detect, effectively, micro changes in status and time period for this claimed event .
London implementation statistics told us that 9 out of 10 vehicles complied prior to the latest boundary changes too. Statics and status banded about to imply significant change happened in such a tenuous relationship aren't really worth the paper they're not written on.
The thread was about not getting caught in travelling to fly to another country, what’s the relevance in environmental campaigning 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| terrygasson wrote: |
@MorningGory,
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Or all the 'press hype' actually did it's job and kept folks away?
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or good showheads advice |
True!
{Came along for the advice, but stayed for the snarky arguments ;-}
With over 60,000 registered sHs, we’d easily make up half the traffic of a normal day on the SWQ:
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| ski3 wrote: |
| Dylan_T42 wrote: |
| Similar thing happened in central London way back when they had a triple strike - bus, rail, & tube. |
Talk about conflating, in the extreme, two completely different events..... and complete Bullux too |
@ski3 I was talking about traffic levels responding to press reports - except this time they’ve taken note over all three days - unlike the 1980’s transport strikes “way back when” we didn’t have catalytic-converters, nor DPFs.
On the first strike day one could hear the birds singing in the squares of Central London and see from one end of Oxford Street to the other - unlike the days either side of the strikes when it was obscured in haze. And just because you can’t now see the PM10 and 2.5 particles, doesn’t mean everyone isn’t breathing them in.
And, as ani fule kno, London has been referred to as The Smoke for very good (bad?) historical reasons. Was just hoping that people’s collective memory of the deadly 1950’s London smogs hasn’t been affected by now owning a log burner?
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| how is the resolution inplace to detect, effectively, micro changes in status and time period for this claimed event . |
Umm, air quality monitoring has been a thing since well before I was cycling around Eighties London - now it’s even online:
https://londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/Default.aspx
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| London implementation statistics told us that 9 out of 10 vehicles complied prior to the latest boundary changes too. |
Very good thing too. So it’s the 1-in-10 drivers who don’t have compliant vehicles that are making all the fuss?
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| Statics and status banded about to imply significant change happened in such a tenuous relationship aren't really worth the paper they're not written on. |
Aye, lies, damn lies, etc - but I was there & that’s what I saw. Took a good few years for my London cough to ease off after leaving.
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| The thread was about not getting caught in travelling to fly to another country, what’s the relevance in environmental campaigning |
Well, aside from thread drift being a thing, I had been keeping an eye on the situation for my daughter, son-in-law, and a dozen or so friends who were returning from a week’s sliding in Saalbach.
Oh, and we had to pay our first pair of ULEZ charges on our Euro5 diesel to get to into Heathrow for BB20 :-/
HTH
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