The M4 spur towards Heathrow, with signs for Terminals 1, 2 and 3 (Maxwell Hamilton, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
Drivers planning an airport run this weekend are being warned to set off earlier than usual, as a stretch of the M25 by Heathrow is set to close overnight and into Sunday morning.
The anticlockwise carriageway at junction 15 — between the M4 slip roads — will shut from 8pm on Saturday, October 24 and stay closed until 10am on Sunday, October 25. The works will hit anyone heading towards Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 via the motorway.
For anyone unfamiliar with the road map, junction 15 is the giant interchange where the M25 meets the M4, just north-east of the airport. The M4 spur is the short stub of motorway that peels off and feeds directly into Heathrow’s terminal area — which is why a closure on the M25 between its slip roads can snarl traffic for flights taking off the following morning.
Don’t be fooled by the word “overnight”
The closure may be billed as an overnight job, but travel experts say passengers should not assume the work will be done and dusted before their journey begins.
Majid Ismailzada, marketing director at GM Rides, said: “The word ‘overnight’ can make people think the work will be finished before their airport journey begins. The important question is what time you will reach that section of motorway. A lunchtime flight can still mean travelling during the morning. Once you work backwards from check-in, security and the time needed to reach your terminal, your journey may fall much earlier than you first think.”
His point is simple: take a midday departure, subtract two or three hours for check-in and security, add an hour or more for the drive and the time needed to reach your terminal — and you may well be driving through the closed section at 9am on Sunday morning, when the cones are still out.
Passengers are being urged to plan their journeys carefully, with the warning that the closure could disrupt those travelling for late-morning and lunchtime flights in particular. Anyone booked on a flight departing around midday on Sunday should work their travel time backwards from the departure board, not forwards from when they leave the house.
How to plan around it
If you would normally take the M25 anticlockwise through junction 15 to reach the airport, consider these options:
Give yourself extra time. The single most useful thing you can do is leave earlier. Diversion routes around motorway closures are slower by design, and traffic heading for one of the world’s busiest airports will be heavy on a weekend morning.
Stay on the M4. If you are coming from the west or south-west, you can remain on the M4 past the Heathrow spur without touching the closed section of the M25 at all. From the north, the A4 and local routes into the airport are worth checking on a traffic map before setting off.
Use the rails instead. The Elizabeth line runs from central London to Heathrow Terminals 2, 3 and 5, while the Piccadilly line serves Terminals 2, 3 and 4. The Heathrow Express offers a non-stop run from Paddington. None of them are affected by the closure, and all are immune to the traffic queues the works may cause.
Check before you leave. Live traffic updates for the motorway network are published by Traffic England and National Highways, which flag planned closures and diversion routes in real time. A quick check on Sunday morning could save you from sitting in a diversion you could have avoided.
The disruption comes during what is shaping up to be a busy weekend for London’s transport network, with airport passengers urged to keep an eye on flight status as well as the roads. Travellers were recently thrown off schedule when a British Airways flight was intercepted by German jets, a reminder that the journey to the airport is only half the battle.
Road disruption is nothing new on the capital’s busiest routes — earlier this week Barking Road in east London was closed both ways after a crash, causing major congestion through the evening rush hour. Drivers stuck near the closures on the eastern Tramlink branches this weekend may find buses are the better bet there too.
The bottom line for Sunday’s flights: work backwards from your departure time, build in the buffer, and don’t let the word “overnight” lull you into a last-minute dash.
