Lower Thames Crossing


The Lower Thames Crossing is a planned road crossing of the Thames estuary downstream of the Dartford Crossing that would link the English counties of Kent and Essex, and its proposed approaches. When built it would connect the districts of Thurrock and Gravesham, supplementing the Dartford route.
First proposed in the late 2000s, the crossing is designed to relieve the pressure on the existing A282 Dartford Crossing. The proposed route would connect the M25 motorway and A13 north of the river to the M2 motorway south of the river. When built, the crossing would have the longest road tunnel in the UK at. The road number A122 has been reserved for the new road.
The crossing is estimated to cost approximately £10.6 billion and would take about six years to build following the granting of planning permission. A planning application was submitted in 2020, and withdrawn. A new planning application was submitted in November 2022; the planning process was expected to take 18 months, but this was extended to 4 October 2024, due to the July 2024 general election. A decision to further postpone a decision was announced in October 2024. The crossing was finally approved in March 2025, with construction planned to start in 2026.

Background

Described as "a crucial part of the country's strategic road network", the Dartford Crossing is the only fixed road crossing of the River Thames east of Greater London. Although officially designated as the A282, the crossing is considered part of the M25 motorway orbital route around London. Last expanded in 1991 with the opening of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, the crossing is the busiest estuarial route in the United Kingdom, with an average daily use of around 160,000 vehicles. The crossing has high levels of congestion, especially at peak times – with high levels of air pollution impacting neighbouring Thurrock and Dartford. A variety of additional crossings downstream of the Dartford Crossing have been proposed.
Until 2024, there was a ferry service operating between Gravesend and Tilbury, which predominantly carried foot passengers and bicycles, Monday to Saturday.

History

An additional Thames crossing downstream from Dartford was first considered in the Roads for Prosperity white paper in 1989, noting that it would " east side of the M25 between Kent and Essex".
The Lower Thames Crossing was recommended for further investigation in the 2002 ORBIT Multi-Model Study, which examined orbital transport problems around London.
In 2008, Metrotidal Ltd proposed the "Medway-Canvey Island crossing", a £2–4 billion combined road and rail tunnel between Medway and Canvey Island that would include a surge-tide barrier and a tidal power plant, which was supported by Kent County Council, Essex County Council, the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership and the Department for Transport. Following delays in any proposal being put forward by central government, Essex and Kent County Councils intend to create a joint proposal for the construction of a crossing.
In January 2009, the Department for Transport published a study regarding potential ways to address capacity issues crossing the Thames. This included short term measures to improve the existing Dartford Crossing, as well as evaluation of future crossings in the long term. The study considered five corridors that could provide a future crossing of the Thames, with options A, B and C to be investigated in further detail.
The study also identified a lack of demand for additional passenger rail or rail freight capacity to cross the river beyond projects already under construction/completed, noting the High Speed 1 and Crossrail projects would provide cross-river capacity between London and Kent.
In October 2010, a study commissioned by Kent County Council proposed that the northern end of the crossing should bypass the M25 and continue on to connect to the M11 directly. This would presumably be an adaptation of Option C.
In October 2012, plans were announced for the London Resort theme park near Swanscombe. Commenting on road and motorway access to the park, Kent County Council highways chief Councillor Brian Sweetland said that he was looking at a significant variation to Option B: "The possibility of a new Thames Crossing at the Swanscombe peninsula must now be taken very seriously".
In April 2017, the Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling confirmed Option C as the preferred route for the Lower Thames Crossing.
In November 2017, Highways England announced that its 'current thinking' for the design of the route encompassed a number of changes from that of the original public consultation: the route would now avoid a landfill site near Ockendon; the junction with the A13 would be redesigned and the junctions with the A128 and A226 would be removed. Furthermore, the A2 would be widened from its junction with the new crossing approach road to Junction 1 of the M2.
In March 2018, Tim Jones in his position as LTC Project Director confirmed that the proposed LTC would not resolve all the problems both north and south of the river.
In July 2019, Highways England said they expected to submit a planning application in summer 2020 and had a target for road opening of 2027. On 26 October 2020, Highways England submitted a Development Consent Order for the project. However, it was withdrawn the following month after the planning inspectorate asked for more information regarding environmental impact and construction plans.

Proposed routes 2009

In January 2009, the Department for Transport proposed three major options to increase capacity east of London over the River Thames to be built downstream of the existing Dartford Crossing and an additional proposal to increase capacity at the Dartford Crossing.
  • Option A: Building an additional road crossing at the current Dartford Crossing in addition to the current two tunnels and four-lane bridge.
  • *Option A Route 14: Proposed tunnel. Area covering junctions 30, 31, 1 and 2.
  • Option B: A new road crossing in the Swanscombe Peninsula area, connecting the A2 near Dartford to the A1089 road, north of Tilbury Docks. This option was dropped in 2013 because of the proposed London Resort.
  • Option C: A new road crossing connecting the M25 in Essex with the M2/A2 in the south, which might be linked via a proposed new Thames flood barrier. The route from the north would start at M25 between Junctions 29 and 30, and pass South Ockendon, Orsett, Chadwell St Mary and East Tilbury before it crossed the Thames just to the east of Thurrock and Gravesend. It would join the M2/A2 at Thong. Option C has several variations, three possible routes to the north of the river, known as Option C Routes 1, 2 and 3 respectively. To the south of the river, the two options are known as the Western and Eastern southern links.
There were three additional route options identified:
  • Option D1: M2 Link to A130 via Cliffe/Pitsea
  • Option D2: M2 Link to A130 via Canvey Island
  • Option E: Isle of Grain Link to East of Southend
Following the first stage of location identification and appraisal, the 2009 study concluded that the three locations
offered the greatest benefits in terms of relieving congestion at the
existing crossing and should be assessed further. Locations D and E were discounted due to either not meeting the traffic objective to relieve
congestion, or providing very limited relief at the existing Dartford Crossing, as well as poor to low value for money.

2020 proposals

Highways England issued revised proposals in 2020 based on the previous Option C. The proposed route would run from the M25 at North Ockendon to the A2 at Thong, including an intermediate junction with the A13 and A1089 roads. The route would be 14.3 miles including 2.6 miles in twin tunnels with three traffic lanes, and would be an all-purpose trunk road rather than a motorway. Construction was expected to take six years.
In April 2021, Highways England announced that they had split the construction of the road into three sections. Two contractors would build the roads north and south of the tunnel, at a cost of £1.3 billion and £600 million respectively. Another contractor would build the tunnel, at a cost of £2.3 billion. This would allow construction of the project to begin immediately after the DCO process is completed.
The crossing was slated to cost between £6.4 billion and £8.28 billion, but investment in local roads is also likely to be necessary to deal with the predicted increases in traffic once the crossing opens. The cost of the proposed LTC is currently more expensive per mile than the HS2 project which is currently predicted to cost £307 million per mile of track, the LTC at current predicted costing would be nearly £573.5 million per mile. In November 2022, it was announced that the expected cost had risen to £9 billion, later revised to £10.6bn.

Development Consent Order application (planning permission)

In October 2020, Highways England submitted their application for a Development Consent Order for the proposed Lower Thames Crossing. After submission, the Planning Inspectorate requested details missing from the application, as well as more information on construction plans and the environmental impact of the scheme from Highways England. In November 2020, Highways England were advised that the Planning Inspectorate would not accept the application. Following this feedback, Highways England instead chose to withdraw the DCO application and carry out further work for a resubmission in 2021. On 20 March 2021, the 120 day internal deadline was missed. In summer 2022, a further local consultation took place, with a new DCO application submitted in November 2022. The DCO process is expected to take around 18 months, which will include public hearings.
A decision on the Lower Thames Crossing was due on 20 June 2024, but this was delayed by six months because of the July 2024 general election. A new planning application was submitted in November 2022; the planning process was expected to take 18 months, but this was extended to 4 October 2024, due to the July 2024 general election. A decision to further postpone a decision was announced in October 2024. The crossing was finally approved in March 2025.