Hi Guys  travelling to Gatwick next Wednesday  i was Wondering what is  (sort of the Quietest) times around the Heathrow Area 

plan on leaving Yorkshire around 12:30 so should be on the M25  about 2:30 -3 pm ish   is this a busy or Quiet Time   

 

thanks

Edited May 30, 20179 yr by Tasape

Anytime other than maybe 1am to 4am is going to be busy imo.

It's the M25 and Heathrow. I've never seen it quiet in daylight.

Obviously rush hour it just becomes a car park like most of the M25.

Thanks Alex

 i'm kinda caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,   if i go for the Dartford Tunnel i could very well get Totally Snarled up there,   or do i just hope that the Traffic is Flowing  albeit Slowly  around Heathrow.  

50 minutes ago, Tasape said:

Thanks Alex

 i'm kinda caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,   if i go for the Dartford Tunnel i could very well get Totally Snarled up there,   or do i just hope that the Traffic is Flowing  albeit Slowly  around Heathrow.  

Going South, the Dartford Crossing should be ok as you'd be using the bridge rather than tunnels.

At that time of day either should be fine, schools are off so traffic is slightly lighter. After 3 you should expect to have some delays, sometimes you can go from M4 to M3 at a steady 50 others it's stop start.

which road are you coming down? Don't know which part of Yorkshire but I'd use the M11 then M25 via Dartford if it was me.

It's always worth putting in your From and To locations into Google Maps and setting the your Arrive by/Depart at times and the date to get an idea of the traffic flows.

If you're traveling on the 7th June (next Wednesday) then it's going to be a normal working day and schools should be back (at least in Kent) so arriving anytime around 3pm on the M25 would be the beginning of the school kick out times and evening rush.

I live on this stretch of the M25 (sandwiched between the M25, M4 and M3) and it's not always busy - use it enough to know!  It is however quite often pot luck and there doesn't seem to be any real reason for it to be so variable.

You should be OK if you get to Heathrow by 3.00pm as you will be between the lunchtime and evening rushes.  Maybe even 4.00pm and you will be OK if lucky.  I was on it last week at 4.30pm and it was crystal clear around Heathrow.  But any issue on the trunk roads into London (A40, M3/A316, M4/A4, A3 being the main ones you will encounter), and you will get more people staying on it going on until the next road in.

The worst part in my experience is between Heathrow/Staines and Chertsey because you get it going from 4/5 lanes to 3 at the M3 junction.  It's almost always busy here.  But clear the Chertsey junction and it usually frees up again.  The Hertfordshire stretch (coming up to the A40/M40) may also be a bit of a problem as although they have widened to 4 lanes, I believe it still squeezes down to 3 for the junction.

If you go for Dartford, don't forget to do the DartCharge thing.  And it can be very congested around the M20 and M26 section - especially if operation stack is in place.  Get caught in that and you may as well have your holiday in Essex!  I imagine this being a problem area next week with people coming back from the channel tunnel and Dover.  So I personally would go via Heathrow.

It wouldn't affect travelling south over the crossing, since the toll booths were removed its usually free flowing at 50mph which is the limit for that road, only been held up once going over the bridge and that was last week due to a breakdown on the bridge, the tunnel gets held up as they close one bore off when they have enough tankers to convoy through, during rush hours it then can't cope and queues back to the M2 at least.

 

Many thanks for all your help Guys it is much Appreciated

Wll be Going A1 rout over the Bridge , as there are some roadworks going on near heathrow and i really dont want to get stuck there like last time  just isn't worth it,  time wise.All route planners aa Rac Mitchellin.green flag  etc are quoting between 3.42 mins to-5 hours using the M1 /25