Best time to use Dartford crossing?
Discussion
normally i'd say that the late morning - early afternoon window would be about it - 11-2.
If you're coming south and the traffic is bad depending on where it backs up from can always dive through the services at Thurrock and miss 3/4 mile. left hand lanes over the bridge/tolls seem to move faster in slow traffic. And if you know there's a weight of traffic heading north depending where you're coming from could perhaps come off the '25 and on again at the last junction (erith/industrial estate).
If you're coming south and the traffic is bad depending on where it backs up from can always dive through the services at Thurrock and miss 3/4 mile. left hand lanes over the bridge/tolls seem to move faster in slow traffic. And if you know there's a weight of traffic heading north depending where you're coming from could perhaps come off the '25 and on again at the last junction (erith/industrial estate).
greengreenwood7 said:
normally i'd say that the late morning - early afternoon window would be about it - 11-2.
If you're coming south and the traffic is bad depending on where it backs up from can always dive through the services at Thurrock and miss 3/4 mile. left hand lanes over the bridge/tolls seem to move faster in slow traffic. And if you know there's a weight of traffic heading north depending where you're coming from could perhaps come off the '25 and on again at the last junction (erith/industrial estate).
Thanks GreenGreenwood, useful tips.If you're coming south and the traffic is bad depending on where it backs up from can always dive through the services at Thurrock and miss 3/4 mile. left hand lanes over the bridge/tolls seem to move faster in slow traffic. And if you know there's a weight of traffic heading north depending where you're coming from could perhaps come off the '25 and on again at the last junction (erith/industrial estate).
greengreenwood7 said:
And if you know there's a weight of traffic heading north depending where you're coming from could perhaps come off the '25 and on again at the last junction (erith/industrial estate).
I'd wondered about this last time I was waiting ages on the slip road having come from the A2 SE. So it'd be better for me to miss the A2 slip road, continue to the roundabout go N on the A road and join at the Princes Rd roundabout? I'd even thought about going Bluewater, Greenhithe, A206 - is that likely to be quicker?Robin Hood said:
Having always had to queue for an hour or so for the Dartford tunnel I've given up with it and now go to the end of the M11 and through the Blackwall Tunnel, used it for 3 return trips so far and straight through every time 
I am going to Tonbridge so that takes me out my way.It is all very frustrating when it appears the delays are mostly because the crossing operators want to extract their £1.50 tolls with little consideration for the chaos it can create.
Sticks. said:
Agreed, and I think it's going up, though not sure when. There's talk of another crossing nr Gravesend but I'll believe it when I see it. Btw, I guess you now theres a safety camera on the A21 just before the Tonbridge exit.
No I did not know that, but thanks for the tip.OK here is an answer to my own question, "not when the bridge is closed".
I went down on Thursday from Nottingham and it took me 8.5 hours to Tonbridge.
I might have got away with 6.5 hours but I made the fatal error of coming off at Thurrock services for a pee and a coffee. What I did not realise was that when the bridge is closed the exit slip is closed and I was sent on a 2-hour journey north to rejoin the southbound carriageway.
Whilst all this was going on traffic became lawless. People were ignoring red lights, driving on verges and hard shoulders, I saw loads of crashes and bumps as people jostled with each other to filter into traffic. The verges became open-air toilets.
I saw no police or other traffic control authority attempting to deal with the situation whatsoever.
Sad though I am to say it, the standard of our road network seems to be regressing quickly. I used to be able to do Tonbridge to Nottingham in under 2.5 hours regularly. Now 3 hours is about the fastest and average is probably nearer 4 hours. I hope never to beat my 8.5 hour epic of Thursday.
I am pleased though that the chaos didn't prevent the crossing operators from collecting their tolls.
Robin Hood said:
Maybe my suggestion of the Blackwall Tunnel wasn't such a bad idea after all then. I go from Nottingham too, A1, A14, M11 Blackwall Tunnel, never had a problem with that. Tonbridge is 26 miles from Dartford and 27 from Greenwich so hardly any difference once across the Thames.
I gather that the Blackwall Tunnel was closed at the same time due to an accident and thw Woolwich ferry was not running due to the wind.going clockwise, you have to be over the crossing before 6.30 am on a weekday. After that, the mobile cranes have come up from Kent and create mobile chicanes on the nearside lane with 56mph lorries overtaking in the middle lane and clapped out old vans overtaking them at 57mph in the outside lane.
Or, to answer the original question, 3am
Or, to answer the original question, 3am
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