A HUGE motorway bridge used by 150,000 drivers each day will close again next week.
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, a key part of the M25 Dartford Crossing, will be shut all night on Saturday December 7.
The closure will begin at 9pm and lift at 6am the following morning.
It will affect drivers looking to cross the Thames from north to south towards Kent from Essex.
They will be forced to instead use the east tunnel of the Dartford Crossing.
Drivers going northbound can take the west tunnel as usual.
However, larger vehicles – between 4.8m and 5.0m high – will need to take a diversion via the M25 clockwise.
It is not the only disruption to the Dartford Crossing that motorists are facing at the moment.
The west tunnel is also closed from 9pm to 5.30 every night this week – with closures set to continue into early December.
All northbound vehicles will be directed via the east tunnel while the closure is in place.
It was also revealed today that a £4 charge would be introduced at two major London tunnels – the Blackwall tunnel and the Silvertown tunnel.
The charge – which will drop to £1.50 at off-peak – will run seven days a week from 6am to 10pm.
But motorists will have to sign up to TfL’s ‘auto-pay’ plan to benefit from the lower charge – or they’ll still have to pay the full £4.
And elsewhere in the country, the closure of Coped Hall near Swindon has been branded an “absolute nightmare” by locals.
But after pressure from locals, Wiltshire Council has agreed to bring in additional help to get the works finished ahead of the planned four-week closure.
Currently, a 7.5-mile diversion route has been put in place of the road – causing huge issues for locals who use the road for their commute and impacting teachers and schoolchildren in the area.
The temporary route sees those who usually travel along Coped Hall and Hook Road to reach Lydiard Park Academy now forced to use Swindon Road, cross the M4, and travel through Swindon along Whitehill Way and Tewkesbury Way.
Full list of Dartford Crossing closures
- November 25-28: The west tunnel will be closed from 9pm to 5.30am
- November 29: The west tunnel will be closed from 9pm to 6am
- November 30: The west tunnel will be closed from 10pm to 5am
- December 2-5: The west tunnel will be closed from 10pm to 5.30am
- December 6: The west tunnel will be closed from 9pm to 6am
- December 7: The QEII Bridge will be closed from 10pm to 5am