Orbital ring finally opens
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• Margaret Thatcher officially opened the final section of the 21 billion M25 orbital motorway, the world's longest city bypass, on Wednesday.
The final 13km (eight mile) section between Bricket Wood and South Mimms completes the motorway which was first proposed more than 40 years ago.
"The M25 was a major project," says Bob Peters of consulting engineers Brian Colquhoun & Partners. "We had to contend with 120,000 vehicles passing over the MI interchange daily, one of the busiest roads in Britain. It should be successful all round."
Garry Turvey, director general of the Freight Transport Association, says: "No one in the freight industry will question that October 29 is a historic day for British transport. We have waited a long time, more than 40 years. Certainly it would have been better able to cope with the traffic flows of the 1960s rather than the 1980s. Still, better late than never."
A Department of Transport official says: "79,000 vehicles use the M25 every day; it's enabling people essentially to by-pass London with greater access to Heathrow, Gatwick and the ports and should also ease London traffic."
Four contractors took 21/2 years to complete the 188km (117 mile) loop. The route has 31 interchanges, two tunnels, 260 bridges and runs through the green belt.