Letter: The Transport Secretary Should Rethink Junction 10 Project

Published on: 30 Jun, 2022
Updated on: 30 Jun, 2022

From: Bibhas Neogi

In response to: Project Team ‘Disappointed’ With SoS Decision to Slash M25 J10 Environmental Mitigation

National Highways, (formerly Highways England) explored 21 options but had failed to explore the one that, in my view, would have offered a safer and environmentally a superior solution whilst saving a substantial amount of money.

This alternative option is shown in the sketch below (or view here: tinyurl.com/Alternative-M25-j10).

Junction 10 – Bibhas Neogi Sketch (click to enlarge)

When I raised this with Highways England, they gave no reason for not exploring this particular option but defended their argument by saying since such an option would involve tunnels, they were unsure about the suitability of ground conditions for tunnelling.

They also said a lot of work had been done to mitigate environmental issues but now it seems these have been kicked into the long grass by the Secretary of State.

The two tunnels in this alternative option would have been quite short and I believe it would have been possible to construct these without much difficulty. It is a pity that an inferior option will be progressed now.

Somebody made a comment before here in The Dragon that this scheme simply makes it easier to join the queue on the M25 from the A3. It is true that congestion on the M25 is often quite horrendous here and not much will be gained from executing this scheme.

The money could have been spent better to improve other traffic issues, for example, the stretch of the A3 through Guildford.

The A3 improvements are long overdue and I believe the funding here would have returned a better value for money by reducing congestion and pollution in Guildford since the A3 has a big detrimental effect on its local roads.

Should the Secretary of State have a rethink and abandon this scheme for now and get National Highways to explore this alternative? I believe so.

Other improvements to the A3 on the approaches to this junction could remain largely unaltered.