Dartford Roadworks: QEII Bridge Shut Again Sat 26 Sept

Five things are worth knowing about Dartford roadworks before you drive or catch a train over the next fortnight:

• The QEII Bridge shuts completely on four more Saturday nights, 9pm to 9am. The next is 26 September, then 3 October, 24 October and 31 October. National Highways is replacing bridge bearings
• The west tunnel now closes an hour earlier. From Monday 21 September the northbound closures start at 9pm, not 10pm, and they run Monday to Friday
• Princes View closes on Monday 21 September for gas main work, with no alternative route. Brentlands Drive stays shut until about 5 October
• Eight local roads go into an 18-month resurfacing programme from Monday, with 20mph limits through the sites
• From 7 October, National Highways intends to close parts of the A282 for about seven months of nights. See our full story on the intended order

Everything below was rechecked today, Sunday 20 September, against the National Highways A282 maintenance page as updated on 18 September, the National Highways seven-day closure report workbook covering 18 to 24 September, Kent County Council’s traffic notices on the Public Notice Portal, and Southeastern’s day-by-day engineering pages. Overnight closures change at short notice, so confirm before a late-night journey.

Saturday 26 September: the whole bridge, for 12 hours

The bridge closure on the night of 19 September was the first of a run, not a one-off.

National Highways’ 18 September update says it is renewing “some of the bridge bearings on the QEII bridge” and that it needs “more extended overnight closures up to end October” to finish. It names the remaining Saturday nights:

• Saturday 26 September, 9pm to 9am
• Saturday 3 October, 9pm to 9am
• Saturday 24 October, 9pm to 9am
• Saturday 31 October, 9pm to 9am

Each is a 12-hour closure of the southbound deck, still running at breakfast time on the Sunday. Every other closure in the fortnight is an overnight tunnel job of seven or eight hours.

The arrangement National Highways published for the 19 September night was:

• southbound traffic diverted through the Dartford east tunnel
• the west tunnel open overnight for northbound traffic
• a height restriction northbound on vehicles between 4.8m and 5.0m

Its night-by-night list words the same restriction differently, as “no northbound access for vehicles over 4.8m”. If you drive anything tall, treat 4.8m as the limit and check with National Highways first.

One timing detail worth knowing. For the 19 September closure the seven-day report had the east tunnel closing at 9pm and the bridge itself at 9.30pm, while the project page gave 9pm for the bridge. The tunnel goes first because the contraflow has to be set up before traffic can be sent through it. Expect the same half hour of overlap on the 26th, and do not treat 9pm as the moment the bridge definitely shuts.

The crossing: what is shut, night by night

The pattern is now a weekly cycle: west tunnel on weeknights, bridge on the Saturday, east tunnel on the Sunday.

Every row comes from National Highways’ A282 maintenance page as updated on 18 September. The seven-day closure report agrees with it on the west tunnel times for the nights the two overlap, which has not always been the case this month.

The Junction 1a slip road goes with the tunnel

This is the detail the project page leaves out, and it is the one that matters if you join the A282 in Dartford rather than crossing it.

On every west tunnel night from Monday 21 to Thursday 24 September, the seven-day report lists the A282 northbound Junction 1a entry slip road as closed at the same times, 9pm to 5.30am. Junction 1a is the Princes Road junction. If you normally join the northbound A282 there late at night, you will be sent on to another junction.

Wednesday 23 September: two extra closures

Two more local closures sit in the same workbook, and neither is on the A282 project page:

• the A2 eastbound exit slip road at the Darenth Interchange, 10pm to 5.30am, for hazardous tree removal on the stretch from Dartford Heath to the interchange
• the A282 northbound Junction 1b entry slip road, 10pm to 5.30am, for joint investigation works

The height limit: the Sundays are the nights that matter

The east tunnel takes the tallest vehicles. When it closes, the closure report is explicit that there is “no access over Dartford Crossing for vehicles over 4.8m”. In this fortnight that is Sunday 20, Sunday 27 September and Sunday 4 October, 10.30pm to 5.30am each time, plus the Saturday bridge nights. On west tunnel nights high vehicles are unaffected, because the east bore stays open.

The QEII Bridge cable stays

Separately from the bearing work, the bridge’s steel cable stays are being refurbished from April to September 2026, with overnight lane closures from 9pm to 6am. At least one lane stays open through the night on those, so southbound traffic keeps moving, just more slowly (National Highways).

From 7 October: seven months of night closures

The bearing work finishes at the end of October. Something much longer starts before it does.

National Highways advertised an intended order in the Thurrock Gazette on 17 September, reference NH/SE/2026/A282/70. It would authorise closing both carriageways of the A282 between Junction 2 and Junction 30, and all their slip roads, for about seven months starting on or after Wednesday 7 October 2026. The notice puts the estimated end at 7 May 2027 (Public Notice Portal).

The maximum nightly windows in the notice are:

• Sunday to Thursday, 8.30pm to 6am
• Friday and Saturday, 8pm to 10am, plus “an extended period over the weekend”

It also imposes a 50mph limit on both carriageways between those junctions and a 4.8m height restriction whenever the west bore is closed. We have set out what it covers, and what “intended” means here, in our full story.

Brentlands Drive and Princes View: shut, with no diversion

This is the pair most likely to catch residents out, because neither is a night job and neither is on the crossing.

Kent County Council has made an order closing Brentlands Drive and Princes View, DA1 1RT, for their entire lengths, for gas main replacement:

• Brentlands Drive closed on 7 September, with completion estimated by 5 October
• Princes View closes on Monday 21 September, with completion estimated by 12 October

(Kent County Council notice, dated 4 September 2026)

We rechecked that notice today and both dates still stand as made. No newer Kent County Council traffic notice for the Dartford area has been published since 3 September. Sevenoaks, Gravesham and Tonbridge and Malling have all had a later batch. Dartford has not, so if a closure has been ordered here in the past fortnight it is not yet on the portal.

The notice is blunt about the alternative: “There are no alternative routes but access will be maintained when safe to do so.” That is the wording councils use for a road with no through link. It means residents should expect to be let in and out around the works rather than routed anywhere.

One more local closure sits in the same batch. Part of Hook Green Road, Southfleet, outside 17 Axtane, is due to close for up to three days from 21 September for Thames Water work. Southfleet is in Gravesham borough, about three miles east of Longfield, and the signed route is via Hook Green Road, the B255 Highcross Road, the B262 Betsham Road and Station Road, and Dale Road.

From Monday: eight local roads resurfaced

Kent County Council’s proposal covering 18 months of carriageway patching and surface treatment takes effect on or after Monday 21 September 2026. Where crews are working, the speed limit drops to 40mph on the approach and 20mph through the site, and the 20mph stays for up to seven days after the work finishes. A second order lets the council close each road to through traffic while it works (Kent County Council notice).

Eight stretches are listed under the council’s Dartford area:

• Darenth Road, Dartford, East Hill to Dene Road. Diversion via the A226 East Hill, A296 Park Road, A225 Princes Road
• Wellcome Avenue, Dartford, Trevithick Drive to Sharp Way. Diversion via Trevithick Drive
• Stone Place Road and Church Hill, Greenhithe, the A226 London Road to Elizabeth Street. Diversion via the A226 London Road, Cotton Lane and Elizabeth Street
• Arnolds Lane and Clement Street, Sutton-at-Hone, the A225 Main Road to the bridge over the M25. A long diversion via Ship Lane, Swanley Village Road and the B258 Main Road
• Bramble Avenue, Bean, Beacon Drive to Stonewood. Diversion via Beacon Drive and Stonewood
• Pescot Avenue, Longfield, New Barn Road to The Drive. No alternative route on the adopted highway network
• Joydens Wood Road, Summerhouse Drive to Tile Kiln Lane. No alternative route on the adopted highway network
• Park Corner Road, Southfleet, Station Road to Foxhounds Lane. Diversion via Station Road and Foxhounds Lane

Two of the eight are outside Dartford borough. The council’s highway area is not the same shape as the council area: its own notice labels Joydens Wood Road as Bexley, and Southfleet sits in Gravesham.

No individual dates are published. The order says the programme runs for up to 18 months, that dates will be published in advance, and that signs will go up on site 14 days before work starts on each road. Watch for the signs rather than the calendar.

Trains: today, then the weeknights, then next weekend

Today, Sunday 20 September, engineering work at London Cannon Street and at Greenwich has closed all lines there. For Dartford that means:

• no trains to or from London Cannon Street, and none via Greenwich
• Cannon Street to Slade Green services, via both Bexleyheath and Greenwich, do not run
• extra trains run between London Charing Cross and Dartford via Woolwich Arsenal
• London Victoria to Dartford runs normally
• St Johns, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park and Charlton are closed all day, served by buses between Lewisham and Charlton

Southeastern is accepting tickets at no extra cost on the Underground between Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Embankment, Waterloo, Southwark and London Bridge, and on the DLR between Lewisham and Greenwich (Southeastern).

Monday 21 to Friday 25 September brings late-night changes on the Sidcup line, which is the one that runs through Dartford to Gravesend:

• Tuesday and Wednesday, from 23.10: buses replace trains between Lewisham and Gravesend via Sidcup, and trains are diverted via Bexleyheath instead
• Thursday and Friday, from 00.10: the same arrangement

Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September is the heavier one. Lewisham closes for the whole weekend, along with the Bexleyheath line:

• London Victoria to Dartford and Gravesend will not run on either day
• Charing Cross to Dartford via Bexleyheath will not run on the Saturday
• Cannon Street to Slade Green services are diverted via Sidcup and do not stop at Lewisham
• replacement buses run New Cross to Dartford via Bexleyheath, calling at all stations
• Lewisham, Blackheath, Kidbrooke, Eltham, Falconwood, Welling, Bexleyheath and Barnehurst are closed all weekend

After that it is clear. Southeastern lists no engineering work affecting Dartford on Saturday 3 or Sunday 4 October.

What it means for you

Driving north on a weeknight. The west tunnel now goes at 9pm, an hour earlier than it did last week, Monday to Friday. If you join at Junction 1a, that slip road shuts with it.

Saturday 26 September. Do not plan a crossing between 9pm and 9am the next morning. Southbound traffic is sent through the east tunnel, and the same applies on 3, 24 and 31 October.

If you drive anything over 4.8m. The Sundays are your problem: 20 and 27 September and 4 October, 10.30pm to 5.30am, plus the Saturday bridge nights.

Getting home next Saturday night. There are no Victoria to Dartford trains at all on 26 or 27 September, and no Charing Cross via Bexleyheath on the Saturday. The replacement bus runs from New Cross.

If you live on Princes View. The road shuts on Monday for up to three weeks, with access managed rather than diverted.

The Dart Charge: what crossing costs

The charge applies 6am to 10pm every day of the year, bank holidays included, and crossings between 10pm and 6am are free (GOV.UK). Almost every closure listed above falls in the free window. The exception is the tail of each Saturday bridge closure, which runs to 9am, so anyone crossing after 6am on the Sunday morning still pays.

A car pays £3.50 per crossing, or £2.80 with a free pre-pay account; motorcycles are free, two-axle goods vehicles pay £4.20 (£3.60 with an account) and vehicles with more than two axles £8.40 (£7.20) (Dart Charge rates). You must pay by midnight the day after you cross or a penalty charge follows.

The deal most locals still miss: the resident discount. People living in the Dartford and Thurrock council areas can pay £25 a year for unlimited crossings, or £12.50 a year for 50 crossings (Dart Charge rates). If you cross more than seven times a year, the £25 option already beats paying per trip.

Why the crossing struggles: the numbers

The crossing was designed for 135,000 vehicles a day. National Highways now puts the figure at more than 180,000 a day, over 50 million a year, and almost 40% of that is freight. At peak times a tunnel is briefly closed on average every 15 minutes to escort dangerous loads through, which the agency says adds up to the equivalent of 27 days of closures a year (National Highways). That is why one broken-down lorry at Junction 1a can back traffic up through the town within minutes, and why overnight works that overrun have produced six-mile tailbacks on the A282 (KentOnline).

Junctions 1a and 1b: yellow-box cameras coming

Kent County Council calls congestion on the A282 at Junctions 1a and 1b “a daily occurrence” and, after a consultation that ran from December 2025 to February 2026, confirmed in March 2026 that it will install ANPR enforcement cameras on six yellow-box junctions, four at Junction 1a and two at Junction 1b, with installation during 2026 (Kent County Council). Once live, blocking those boxes will mean a penalty notice, so leave the exit clear even in crawling traffic.

The Lower Thames Crossing: where it actually stands

The long-promised relief road east of Gravesend was granted development consent on 25 March 2025, and the Government announced funding for it on 16 June 2025 (National Highways). Early work began in March 2026: archaeology near Coalhouse Fort, ground investigations, habitat creation and site compounds near East Tilbury and at Thong near Gravesend. Main construction and tunnelling are due to start in 2028, with the road opening in the early to mid 2030s (National Highways). Until then, the Dartford Crossing carries on as the only Thames road crossing east of London, so the maintenance cycle above is a fact of life here for years yet.

Getting around it: buses, trains and station parking

Fastrack is the borough’s segregated rapid bus network, operated by Go-Ahead. Route A links Dartford town centre with Temple Hill, The Bridge, Crossways, Greenhithe station and Bluewater roughly every 12 minutes during the day. Route B runs from Dartford via Darent Valley Hospital, Bluewater, Castle Hill and Ebbsfleet International through to Gravesend, from about 5.15am to 11pm (Route A timetable, Route B timetable). When the A282 is stationary, Fastrack’s bus-only sections are usually the quickest way to Bluewater or the hospital.

For the train instead, Dartford has direct services to five London terminals. Times, fares and the last trains home are in our Dartford to London trains guide. If you drive to the station, the Hythe Street car park (194 spaces) is run by APCOA: daily rates run £9.00 to £9.50 on weekdays (£7.20 Saturday, £4.80 Sunday), with a weekly ticket at £38.50 and an annual season at £1,520 (APCOA). Town-centre alternatives and on-street rules are in our parking in Dartford guide.

Where to check live conditions

• National Highways A282 Dartford Crossing works for the tunnel calendar and diversion maps
• National Highways road closure report for the full daily list, refreshed on working days
• Southeastern planned engineering work for the trains, day by day
• Public Notice Portal for Kent County Council’s street-level closure orders
• Dart Charge to pay or set up an account

Sources

• National Highways: A282 Dartford Crossing maintenance and repairs (update dated 18 September 2026: the bridge bearing replacement, the remaining Saturday closures on 26 September, 3, 24 and 31 October, the night-by-night calendar to 4 October, and the diversion and height restriction used on 19 September)
• National Highways: seven-day road closure report (workbook covering 18 to 24 September 2026, downloaded on 20 September: the west tunnel at 9pm with the Junction 1a northbound entry slip, the Junction 1b entry slip and the A2 Darenth Interchange slip on 23 September, and the east tunnel and bridge times on the night of 19 September)
• Public Notice Portal: A282 Trunk Road, M25 Junctions 30 to 2, temporary traffic restrictions (National Highways intended order NH/SE/2026/A282/70, published 17 September 2026 in the Thurrock Gazette)
• Kent County Council traffic notice, dated 4 September 2026 (Brentlands Drive and Princes View orders made; Hook Green Road, Southfleet). Rechecked on 20 September 2026: unchanged, and no later Dartford traffic notice published
• Kent County Council traffic notice: various roads, Dartford, Gravesham and Sevenoaks (surface treatment speed limits and closures from 21 September, with the schedule of roads and diversions)
• Southeastern: engineering work (per-day notices read on 20 September for 20 to 27 September and 3 to 4 October: the Cannon Street and Greenwich closure today, the Sidcup line late-night buses from 21 to 25 September, the Lewisham weekend of 26 and 27 September, and nothing listed for the weekend of 3 October)
• GOV.UK: Pay the Dartford Crossing charge and charges (hours, prices, resident discount, rechecked 20 September 2026)
• National Highways: The Dartford Crossing (traffic volumes, dangerous-load closures)
• Kent County Council: A282 Junctions 1a and 1b (congestion, ANPR yellow-box enforcement)
• National Highways: Government funding gives green light and Early work begins on the Lower Thames Crossing (consent, funding, timeline)
• KentOnline: Long tailbacks at Dartford Tunnel as roadworks overrun
• APCOA: Dartford Station car park (station parking tariffs)
• Fastrack Route A and Route B timetables

Closure dates and charges were checked on 20 September 2026 and can change at short notice. Always confirm against National Highways, Southeastern and GOV.UK before you travel. We update this page as major schemes change.