M25 Closure: Gridlocked traffic expected as almost 4,000 Pompey fans head to Peterborough

There could be some potential road blocks in the way of Portsmouth's promotion push this year, fans will face a more literal one on Saturday, March 16 with a section of the M25 closing. Fans travelling to the top of the table clash against Peterborough at Weston Homes Stadium will need to plan their routes in advance with motoring experts advising that the official estimates of congestion are "optimistic".

The motorway will be closing between Junction 10 and 11 in Surrey, which would have been a route taken by many Pompey fans, from 9pm Friday until 6am on Monday. It is the first planned daytime closure of the motorway, which encircles London, since it opened in 1986 and major disruption is expected.

National Highways said modelling carried out while it was developing its plans for this weekend indicated vehicles would face delays of up to five hours without mitigation measures, such as urging drivers to stay away. The Government-owned company believes its awareness campaign will help reduce traffic levels by approximately 50%, meaning the length of time added to journeys will be limited to around an hour.

An 11.5-mile diversion route has been created to direct motorway traffic along A roads. National Highways is urging drivers not to use their sat navs to attempt to find quicker alternative routes on minor roads due to fears this could cause major congestion.

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, told the PA news agency: “We must hope National Highways has overstated its dire predictions of sat navs adding to the traffic chaos by taking drivers off the official diversion route, because the temptation to try to skip the queues will be intense, and the impact on actual journey times uncertain.

“Whilst the modelling suggests around an hour might be added to people’s travel time, that will feel optimistic to anyone used to the frustrations of driving round the M25 on days even without major construction works under way.”

Earlier this week, National Highways project lead Jonathan Wade said it was tough to forecast the amount of congestion that will be caused by the closure because “it’s so unprecedented”. He added: “It’s very difficult to determine right now how effective all our traffic management will be. Please don’t travel if you can avoid it.” That may not be seen as an option for the lucky Pompey fans that have secured a ticket for the crucial away match at Peterborough.