M25 closure: Motorway to shut between junctions 10 and 11 in ...

A National Highways chief has advised motorists to find something to do at home like "decorate the bathroom" or "play in the garden" ahead of an unprecedented closure of the M25 this weekend.

Drivers have been warned to stay away from a five-mile stretch of the motorway in Surrey between junctions 10 and 11, which will be shut in both directions from 9pm on Friday until 6am on Monday.

They have also been urged to ignore satnavs and stick to diversion routes if they do travel while the works take place.

This will be the first scheduled daytime all-lanes shutdown on the M25 since it opened in 1986, with National Highways planning to demolish a bridge and install a new gantry.

Everything you need to know about the M25 closure

While the plans were being developed, modelling suggested drivers would face delays of up to five hours without mitigation measures such as urging drivers to stay away and creating diversion routes.

National Highways believes only around an hour will be added to journeys because of the steps it has taken, which is based on a reduction in traffic of 50%.

The government-owned company's project lead, Jonathan Wade, said how well the area copes with the closure will partly depend on whether drivers stick to official diversions - but urged people to avoid travelling altogether.

"Avoid the area totally if you can," he told The Independent's daily travel podcast.

"Either avoid travelling completely or find something to do at home, decorate the bathroom or something, I don't know, or play in the garden.

"If you must go, travel by train, walk, use your bicycle.

"If you can, avoid driving anywhere around those diversionary routes."

Five M25 closures in total planned this year

Mr Wade continued: "Secondly, we have planned a total of five complete closures of the M25, so this is the first of five.

"Three of those closures will be between junctions 10 and 11 - the A320 at Chertsey... and two of them will be between junction 9 at Leatherhead to junction 10 at Wisley."

He said the dates of the later stages would be released in due course with motorists given plenty of notice.

"We will not just spring them on people," he said, adding they would take place between May and December.

Senior project manager Daniel Kittredge has said moving away from diversion routes this weekend would create "additional issues" in different parts of the road network.

Mr Wade previously admitted it is difficult to know how long delays will be because it is "so unprecedented".

"There's never been a closure of this nature, we really can't be certain how many people will heed the messages which we've given," he added.

"It's very difficult to determine right now how effective all our traffic management will be. Please don't travel if you can avoid it."

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The M25 normally carries between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles in each direction per hour from 10am until 9pm at weekends between junctions 9 and 11.

The project, due to be completed in the summer of 2025, will increase the number of lanes and hope to make it easier to enter and exit the M25 at junction 10, which is one of the UK's most dangerous junctions.