Dartford – Thurrock maintenance
The Dartford Crossing carries more than 180,000 vehicles every day.
West tunnel: Regular overnight closures for routine maintenance and safety checks.
Our next full closure of the QEII bridge is planned between 10pm on Saturday 13 January and 5am on Sunday 14 January 2024
Project information
All dates inclusive.
Sunday 26 November to Friday 1 December
- No planned works
Saturday 2 December
- West tunnel closure, 10pm to 5am
Sunday 3 December
- East tunnel closure, 10:30pm to 5:30am
Monday 4 to Saturday 9 December
- West tunnel closure, 10pm to 5am
Sunday 10 December
- East tunnel closure, 10:30pm to 5:30am
Monday 11 to Saturday 16 December
- West tunnel closure, 10pm to 5am
Sunday 17 December
- East tunnel closure, 10:30pm to 5:30am
Monday 18 December 2023 to Monday 1 January 2024
- No planned works over the festive period and New Year
Dartford Crossing diversions
- East tunnel – vehicles less than 4.8m (15‘-9”) high will be diverted via the west tunnel. Vehicles between 4.8m (15‘-9”) and 5.0m (16’-6”) high will be diverted via M25 clockwise.
- West tunnel – drivers will be diverted via the east tunnel.
- QEII bridge diversion – southbound traffic will be diverted via the east tunnel. Vehicles less than 4.8m (15‘-9”) high travelling northbound will be able to use the west tunnel as usual and for vehicles between 4.8m (15‘-9”) and 5.0m (16’-6”) high, an alternative diversion will be in place via the M25 clockwise.
M25 junction 31 to 30
- A clearly signed diversion will be in place via the M25 junction 31 Purfleet Interchange and the dedicated northbound linking road to re-join the M25 at junction 30.
- Due to the location of this work, we’ll need to close the east tunnel and lane two through the west tunnel to safely divert traffic.
The Dartford Crossing is currently the only way to cross the Thames east of London by road and links the counties of Essex and Kent via the QEII bridge for southbound traffic and two 1.4km-long tunnels for northbound journeys.
The A282 also connects directly at both ends with the M25 London Orbital Motorway, one of the busiest motorways in Europe.
To keep this part of the network safe and secure, our work will include:
- Upgrading CCTV and lighting
- Waterproofing
- Maintaining ventilation, electrical and drainage systems
- Replacing tunnel bearings and repairing the concrete tunnel walkways
- Replacing expansion joints on the viaduct
- Replacing the panels which form the tunnel linings
- Carrying out maintenance to the QEII bridge pylons, cable stays and dampers
Additional work will also include:
- Replacing areas of corroded steelwork
- Tile repairs
- Paintwork
We’ll do most of our work overnight to keep disruption to a minimum and planned our work so that multiple schemes can run at the same time.
Documents
Related Road projects

Traffic information
Information about scheduled roadworks and events on our motorways and major roads.X
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