Drivers faced rush hour misery on two southeastern motorways this morning, with one closed after a tipper truck hit a bridge, and the other closed due to emergency roadworks.
At the same time, a yellow warning for wind was blanketing the whole of England, with lorry drivers warned poor weather conditions meant they could be at risk on exposed roads.
Traffic is now able to pass as normal, but sections of both the M25 and M20 had to close earlier today due to concerns about the structural safety of bridges.
The M25 around London was closed clockwise between Junction 3 at Swanley and Junction 4 for Orpington in Kent, after the truck crashed into a bridge at around 5.40am.
As emergency services responded to the crash, an engineer was also sent to do a structural inspection of the bridge, to check whether was safe for the section of road to reopen.
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Meanwhile, overnight roadworks on the M20 had to be extended for much of the day after a fault was found during the works.
National Highways said they had to carry out emergency repairs after a damaged bridge joint was found ‘impacting all three lanes’.
The carriageway was closed eastbound between junctions 7 and 8, and reopened around 3pm.
It caused long tailbacks, with lorries and cars pictured waiting in gridlock traffic to get to a diversion.
Yesterday, the M25 was also closed for hours after a serious crash between J25 Cheshunt and J27 M11 between Hertfordshire and Essex.
Drivers were told to avoid the area near Epping as disruption was expected to last for hours before the road reopened.
The incident involved a car and a motorcyclist at around 5.30pm.
Diversion routes
National Highways provided the following information for drivers using the M25 and M20 in Kent during the closures.
Diversion route for M25 users this morning
- Road users are advised to follow the hollow triangle diversion symbol on road signs
- Exit the M25 clockwise at the J3 Swanley Interchange.
- At the roundabout, take 5th exit onto A20 towards London.
- Continue until the A224 roundabout (Crittal’s Corner)
- At Crittal’s Corner roundabout, take 1st exit onto A224 towards Orpington.
- At A224 / M25 Link Hewitts Roundabout take 1st exit onto M25 link and at next roundabout M25 Junction 4 take 2nd exit to rejoin M25 clockwise towards Gatwick.
Diversion route for M20 users this morning
- Diverted traffic is advised to follow the hollow circle diversion symbol
- Exit the M20 at Junction 7 onto the A249 Maidstone towards Bearsted Road, and turn Southeast towards New Cut Road.
- At this Junction it will turn South into New Cut Road towards the A20 Turn East onto the A20.
- Travel along the A20 to re-join the M20 at Junction 8
- Traffic bound for Dover from the M25 is advised to use the A2/M2 route as an alternative to avoid any congestion on the above diversion route during the peak travel period.
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