M25 Celebrates 25th Birthday

BethPH
By BethPH Last edited 149 months ago
M25 Celebrates 25th Birthday


It marks the outer limits of Londonist’s stamping ground and this weekend the motorway we all love to hate celebrates its 25th birthday. Here’s the M25 in letters and numbers:

Miles long: 117

How much? £1bn, the same as the figure MPs claim will be ‘wasted’ by widening projects.

How long to walk it? 6 days, according to Rob Lilwall’s 2010 challenge. Iain Sinclair did it in a more leisurely year for his book London Orbital.

How fast? 160mph to lap the M25 in 40 minutes according to a racing game or 28 minutes if you have a 250mph Bugatti Veyron. Obeying the 70mph speed limit gives a lap time of one hour 40 minutes.

Are we nearly there yet? Only three service areas, so cross your legs.

Pointless sum: adding up the nine other motorways which the M25 connects to gives a total of 129 (M1, M3, M4, M11, M20, M23, M26, M40 and A1(M).

Longest traffic jam: 22 miles or 37 miles. Both are bad.

M25 art: A man called Gimpo spends a day each year driving around the M25. He’s done it since 1996 and will do it until 2021.

How many vehicles? Between 150,000 and 200,000 per day, according to the Highways Agency.

M25 geekery: It has 33 junctions, 234 bridges, 500km of safety fencing and 225,000 road studs. 2m tons of concrete and 3.5m tons of asphalt were used to build it. It also has 10,606 lights and 2,959 illuminated signs along it.

How can I avoid it? According to the AA, the question most frequently asked by motorists on its online route planner is; ‘How can I avoid the M25?’

Best bit of graffiti: Give Peas A Chance.

Last Updated 30 October 2011