Latest live M25 traffic news

The M25 is quite possibly the most notorious motorway in the UK. With 117 miles of potential for congestion, roadworks, lane closures, delays, accidents, and incidents, London’s orbital motorway can prove utterly chaotic and unpredictable, especially during the rush hour, so it pays to plan ahead as much as you can with traffic updates. Fortunately, we’re here to help.

We’re not just making this up - a study conducted in 2017 recorded the average speed of traffic on the M25 at just 25mph - making it one of the slowest motorways to negotiate in the UK. A study in 2020 also estimated that over 170,000 vehicles use the western section of the M25 each day.

With these kinds of numbers, it probably comes as little surprise that journeys around London on the M25 are all too frequently frustrated by hold-ups and delays. The experience is no doubt worse for commuters, who have to endure the reports of M25 closures and accidents almost daily as they check their phone or listen to the radio during breakfast.

As a result of its popularity, the M25 has been consistently widened since it was completed as a three-lane orbital road in the late 1980s, but even the widest six-lane-per-carriageway sections can struggle to cope with the volume of traffic at times.

Scroll down to view all the latest traffic information on the M25 via our tailored Twitter feed, which pulls live information and updates from the Highways Agency, police forces and other traffic alert feeds. We’ve also got a a useful list of the motorway’s 31 junctions and some interesting M25 key traffic facts...

Live M25 Traffic updates 

M25 history

The idea of a London orbital road can be traced back to the 1930s but it wasn’t until the 1960s that moves were made to actually construct the road that would become the M25. The M25 was born out of the London Ringways plan which marked out four ring roads around the capital. 

Ringways 3 and 4 were built in the early 1970s. The first section was started in 1973 between South Mimms and Potters Bar and this would go on to become M25 junctions 23 to 24 as the roads were integrated into the modern M25.

The M25 first opened to traffic in 1986 as a complete ring road for London but traffic levels exceeded those for which it was designed almost immediately and in 1990 the Secretary of State for Transport announced plans to widen the whole road to four lanes. Traffic continued to increase and road works to widen the M25 have been an almost constant companion for motorists using the road ever since.

M25 junctions

M25 key traffic facts

• The M25 is 117 miles long.
• The M25 is the second longest ring road in Europe after the Berliner Ring in Germany (122 miles).
• At its closest point, at Potters Bar in Hertfordshire, the M25 is 12.5 miles from Charing Cross in central London.
• At its furthest point, at Byfleet in Surrey, the M25 is 19.5 miles away from Charing Cross.
• There are 31 junctions on the M25, if you include Junctions 1A, 1B and 31 which are technically on the A282 at the Dartford Crossing.
• The M25 has sections in Kent (junctions 1A to 5), Surrey (junctions 6 to 14), Buckinghamshire (junctions 15 to 16), Hertfordshire (junctions 17 to 25) and Essex (junctions 26 to 31). 
• The M25’s busiest section is between junctions 14 and 15 near Heathrow Airport, handling an average of over 200,000 vehicles a day.

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