Campaigners are renewing calls for a new Lower Thames Crossing to be built after successive closures of the Dartford Tunnel left drivers facing traffic chaos this week.
One of the Dartford Tunnel’s two bores - which carry traffic northbound from Kent to Essex - was shut all day on Monday after a hydraulic fluid spillage meant around 400m of the carriageway needed resurfacing.
The closure brought chaos to the area - compounded by a separate closure of the M25 - and left thousands of motorists stuck in heavy traffic on surrounding roads.
Highways England warned of two-hour queues on the approach to the tunnel, while some drivers reported taking three hours to travel just 10 miles, and some children could not get to school because of the congestion.
The tunnel eventually reopened around 3.30am on Tuesday almost 30 hours after the spillage, but just hours later a crash closed the other (west) tunnel.
It later reopened but heavy traffic continued to queue on the approach to the tunnel on Tuesday morning.
My statement following Dartford’s traffic standstill today, caused by a partial closing at the Dartford Crossing after a hydraulic leak.
— Jim Dickson MP for Dartford 🌹 (@Jim4Dartford) October 21, 2024
We urgently need the @lowerthames crossing built to relieve non-stop gridlock in Dartford and to stop disrupting people’s every day lives. pic.twitter.com/FPHgtLNreg
The major disruption has renewed calls for the government to push ahead with plans for a new road crossing between Kent and Essex.
Earlier this month, the Government delayed a decision on whether to go ahead with the new £9 billion Lower Thames Crossing until May 2025.
Jim Dickson, Labour MP for Dartford, posted a video on X amid Monday’s chaos, saying his constituents had “had a really terrible day travelling around Dartford”.
He said some SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) transport “actually had to give up taking young people to school because they couldn’t fight their way through the traffic” on Monday.
He said other constituents had reported taking three hours to travel just over 10 miles between Gravesend and Dartford, and it taking 40 minutes to get to Taekwondo classes that would normally take a five-minute journey.
“All in all, it’s been a terrible day,” he said. “It underscores my campaign and that of other Dartford residents, to get the Lower Thames Crossing built as soon as possible, to take the pressure off the Dartford Crossing which is really disrupting people’s lives.”
One X user named Daniel said he spent seven hours stuck in traffic on the A2 amid Monday’s Dartford Tunnel closure, and at one point moved just half-a-mile in two hours.
National Highways warned of two-hour delays on the approach to the tunnel, but motorists blasted the agency and said the congestion was “an absolute shambles” and “a joke”.
“It’s not even 120 minute delays,” wrote one driver named Scott. “Left at 6am. Took 2 hours just to get passed the Bluewater junction. Then didn’t move for an hour so gave up and drove back home.”
Another X user named Harry Morgan said it took him three-and-a-half hours to drive from St Albans to Strood - a journey that should typically take just over an hour.
“This is exactly why we need another crossing further east,” wrote another user.
“Dartford crossing is not fit for purpose anymore for the amount of vehicles using it today. Anything goes wrong like today puts the whole surrounding areas at standstill which is completely unfair on people!”
The Dartford Crossing consists of two bored tunnels and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, with the tunnels carrying traffic north and the bridge carrying traffic south across the Thames.
It is the only fixed road crossing over the Thames east of London, and is reportedly the busiest estuary crossing in the UK.
The crossing, also known as the A282, connects directly at both ends with the M25 London Orbital Motorway, one of the busiest motorways in Europe.
While it is designed to handle 135,000 vehicles a day, National Highways says the average is now 150,000 a day – and up to 180,000 on the busiest days.
It carries more than 50 million vehicles a year, almost 40 per cent of which vehicles using are freight vehicles or HGVs - much higher than on other major roads.
The first tunnel opened in 1963, before the second was opened in 1980, followed by the bridge in 1991.
Work on plans for a new Lower Thames Crossing has been ongoing since 2009, and more than £800 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on planning the project.The initial deadline for a decision on whether to grant a development consent order enabling National Highways to build the 14.3-mile road was initially scheduled for June 20, but was delayed until October 4 because of the general election.
But the Government then again delayed a decision on whether to go ahead with the crossing.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, in a written statement to Parliament, said it was “necessary” to extend the deadline for a decision on the Lower Thames Crossing application to May 23 next year (2025).
Ms Haigh said the decision would give more time for the application to be considered, including “any decisions made as part of the spending review”.
Ms Haigh said: “This statement confirms that it is necessary to extend the deadline for a decision on the application by National Highways under the Planning Act 2008, for the A122 (Lower Thames Crossing) development consent order.”
