Bridges No.40 - M25 Motorway Bridge

The M25 is carried over two very different bridges as the pictures above show. The top image shows the bridge on the downstream side of the motorway, while the lower image shows the upstream side.

The first bridge on this site, was the upstream bridge. It was designed by Edward Lutyens to carry the A30 Staines bypass over the river and it bears a strong resemblance to Lutyen's Hampton Court Bridge. Lutyens worked with the engineer H W Fitzsimmons for the design, which was ready in 1939. However, the Second World War intervened and construction was delayed for around 20 years before it opened in November 1961. The bridge is built from reinforced concrete and steel, clad with red bricks and Portland stone balustrades.

Lutyens was also involved in the early ideas for an orbital road around London in his Highway Development Survey of 1937. The first parts of the M25 that were eventually built were J23-24 (Hatfield - Potters Bar) in 1975 and J6-8 (East Grinstead - Reigate) in 1976. It was then decided that the M25 should cross the Thames alongside the A30 at Staines and a second bridge would be required. This was the preferred to the construction of a tunnel under the river. By 1983, the second bridge, alongside Lutyen's was opened, designed by Ove Arup and Partners. The bridge has the same general profile at Lutyen's bridge, alowing for what appears to be a seamless single bridge when viewed side on.