London, United Kingdom – Drivers on the M25 are set to benefit from shorter journey times and improved safety as Transport Minister Tom Harris 2007-09-03 opened a £75million project to refurbish and add extra lanes through the Holmesdale Tunnel and junction 25.

The project, which has been completed by the Highways Agency three months ahead of schedule, increases the number of lanes through the Holmesdale tunnel. An extra lane has also been added to the eastbound M25 through junction 25 while key tunnel systems, including lighting, ventilation, CCTV monitoring and incident detection systems, have been upgraded.

Tom Harris said: "120,000 vehicles use this busy part of the M25 every day. It’s an important stretch of road both for local people and businesses and long-distance traffic. Adding these extra lanes, combined with the tunnel refurbishment, will ease congestion, shorten journeys and improve safety.

"I’d like to congratulate the Highways Agency on completing this important scheme three months early. Refurbishing a tunnel while keeping 120,000 vehicles a day flowing through the site is no mean feat. The Government is committed to delivering this sort of quality improvement to the road network."

The extra lanes have been added to the M25 junction 25 and Holmesdale tunnel without any additional land take. The Minister visited the completed project and attended a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the opening.

Bachground Information
1. The Holmesdale Tunnel was opened in 1984. By redesigning the internal layout within the tunnel an extra lane in each direction has now been provided. In addition new mechanical, electrical and ventilation equipment has been installed in the tunnel.
2. At Junction 25, the M25 motorway was designed with only two lanes for through traffic, causing congestion through the junction at peak times. M25 Junction 25 was identified as a junction that would benefit from improvement and was included in the 92 junction priority action sites announced in October 2002. The junction improvement works were within the existing Highways Agency boundaries. The majority of the M25 carriageway in this area is dual three-lane carriageway.
3. The Highways Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Transport. We manage, maintain and improve England’s motorways and major A roads on behalf of the Secretary of State. The £75 million project was carried out by Costain and supervised by Mouchel Parkman on behalf of the Highways Agency.