The M25 in Surrey reopened eight hours ahead of schedule on Sunday after the first planned daytime closure of the motorway.

The five-mile stretch of the motorway between junctions 10 and 11 had been closed in both directions at 9pm on Friday and was scheduled to remain inaccessible until 5.30am, in order to demolish a bridge and install “a huge gantry”.

However, just after 10pm on Sunday, National Highways South-East tweeted that the M25 was open in both directions.

Concerns had been raised that thousands of drivers would be stuck in gridlocked traffic over the weekend during the unprecedented closure on the south-west section of the orbital route.

There had been some buildup, with congestion stretching two miles at one point, but traffic along the new route through the towns of Byfleet, West Byfleet, Woking and Ottershaw was not as bad as feared.

Amanda Boote of Woking borough council told the PA news agency: “It’s actually been as lot better than we expected, it’s not gridlocked in the way that we thought it would be.

“It was built up a bit, but no different to how it might normally be. Actually residents are quite happy, they’ve been sleeping well because it’s so quiet overnight.”

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On Sunday morning, National Highways South-East shared an image on X of a new gantry being guided into place with a crane after making “good progress” during the first 24 hours of work to demolish a bridge.

It was the first planned daytime closure of the M25 – which encircles London – since it opened in 1986.

Some local people visited the empty motorway to take selfies.

An 11.5-mile diversion route had been created to direct traffic along A-roads.

The M25 normally carries between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles in each direction every hour from 10am until 9pm at weekends between junctions nine and 11. This includes many airline passengers travelling to, from and between the UK’s two busiest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick.

Four more daytime closures of the M25 will take place up to September.

The project, due to be completed in summer 2025, will increase the number of lanes at junction 10, which is one of the UK’s busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions.

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