Does anybody know when the M25 widening between the M40 and the M1 is going to start? Thanks for the info

In April of this year, if all goes to plan. Extends round to the A1(M).

Great thank you for the info! How long will it take roughly until it is complete?

A whopping 3 years!

When you consider just how much is being done, 3 years is actually rather quick!

Is it really. The M27 works at J3-4 have taken about a year, and even so, there were prolonged periods of time where the works just seemed to stand still and not progress.

Do you expect roadworkers to be tethered to their JCBs and whipped to ensure they all work 18 hour shifts, Steve?

There are often reasons for things not happening. Like weather. Or the fact it's Christmas/New Year/other time when workers can be expected to have a life outside of work.

Yeah and? No comparison. The M27 works are about <--this long-->. The M25 works are considerably longer. Much more work involved. Would you prefer it if they did it in 3 or 4 sections? each taking about 2 years each? Didn't think so.

Not everything can be compared to Southampton!

I heard that when they built the original section of the M1 they were knocking out a mile every 8 days. Roadworks generally take an eternity nowadays, for various reasons.

Rather easy to do when traffic management isn't required. Also, they had thousands upon thousands of Irish navvies building it...

Building a new motorway is also very different, no existing traffic to worry about.

The M25 J16-23 widening is to be done in three sections, each lasting about 18 months (J16-19, 19-21, 21-23) which will overlap with each other so that the total job lasts from April 2009 - April 2012.

This is because it's less frustrating for motorists to have a shorter length of roadworks at any one time, and it's also cheaper to employ a lower number of workers for 3 years, than a higher number of workers for 1 year.

However, the credit crunch means that the funding from the banks still hasn't been agreed, so it looks likely that the start date could slip unless the government decides to part-fund the project up-front.

If the start date slips more than a couple of months bear in mind that the works are meant to be finished before the Olympics so that the M25 is roadwork free for the duration of the games.

The works have started. The contractors have started mobilising in compounds alongside, and last week I noticed heavy vegetation clearance starting south of J17 Maple Cross.

The street lighting replacement at A2/M2 Brenley Corner is programmed to take 12 weeks. That's strange, the county council's contractors down my way are able to relight a road within the space of a week. Furthermore, when they relit the last of the SOX around M27 J7 in early 2001 the works only took a couple of weeks. How can you justify such a job taking 3 months? I'm sure some of you will, because I'm so obviously wrong.

It'll be another Guildford Bypass relighting. Works began on the 4th August, and were expected to be completed by mid November. That's over 3 months, and was a seriously long timescale for such a job. However, the contractors missed the mid November deadline, so a end of November deadline was created, but they missed that, so they created a December deadline, but they missed that, so they created a new deadline for the end of January, but they'll miss that, and now a new dealine of 6th February has been suggested. How can you f*** replacing lighting columns this much? They're only replacing lighting columns over a mile long stretch of road, how the hell can it end up taking half a year? Because the people in charge aren't managing the project very well. Very sloppy. Southern Electric Contracting can completely replace a column within an hour or two in Hampshire, as in, 10am an old column will be standing in place, all connected up, and by 12pm a new column will have magically appeared and have been connected up, with the old column disappeared without a trace. Literally is "blink and you miss it", whereas the Highways Agency is more like "fall into a long coma, wake up and everything is the same".

What was the final plan for the Metropolitan line / Former Great Central rail viaduct just north of J16? - demo and rebuild or fit the road through somehow?

I don't see how they could demolish the bridge, certainly without making some very large payments to Chiltern Railways for cutting off their only route from High Wycombe into London. I know they could reroute everything back through PR and upto Aylesbury but that was a nightmare when Tesco opened their new store on the line at Gerrards Cross.

The bridge remains with the M25 having narrow lanes as we discussed here previously.

I wonder how long the work would take if the HA had to pay compensation to drivers because of the disruption. This is what happens on the railways, which was implemented to ensure work was done as effeciently as possible, but just means that everything costs a lot more !!

Jim.