Queen Elizabeth II Bridge M25, Grays Essex England

The Dartford - Thurrock River Crossing, Dartford River Crossing (DRC) (or simply the Dartford Crossing) is a major road crossing of the River Thames in England, connecting Dartford in the south to Thurrock in the north, via two road tunnels and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. It opened in stages, the west tunnel in 1963, the east tunnel in 1980, and the bridge in 1991. Until the opening of the bridge, built to the east of the two tunnels, the crossing was known as the Dartford Tunnel.

The two tunnels are 1.43 kilometres (1,430 m) long, while the cable-stayed bridge is 137 metres (449 ft) high with a main span of 450 metres (0.45 km). The crossing forms part of London's orbital M25 motorway (although officially not part of the M25, see note), and carries nearly 150,000 vehicles a day. Southbound traffic crosses the four lane bridge; northbound traffic uses both of the two lane road tunnels. However, in bad weather or high winds, the bridge is closed and the crossing reverts to using the tunnels for both directions.

The crossing is 16 miles (26 km) east of the centre of London, but just 2 miles (3 km) outside of the boundary limits of Greater London. Its southern end is in the Borough of Dartford in the county of Kent, while its northern end is in the Thurrock unitary authority, ceremonially part of the county of Essex. Formerly managed jointly by Kent and Essex councils, the crossing is now managed by Connect Plus (M25) Limited on behalf of the national Highways Agency.

The crossing is a major bottleneck in the regional road network of England, being the easternmost road tunnel and bridge across the River Thames, and the only road crossing east of London. Therefore, the crossing is subject to major traffic congestion and disruption in the event of accidents or bad weather. The next nearest road crossings to the west are the Woolwich car ferry and the (dual bore) Blackwall Tunnel, both well within the East London suburban area. The proposed Thames Gateway Bridge between these two crossings and the Dartford crossing was given planning permission in December 2004, but was later cancelled in November 2008. The Lower Thames Crossing is a tentative proposal for a crossing, most likely a tunnel, to the east of the Dartford crossing.

In October 2009, the Government announced its intention to sell the crossing as part of a public sector deficit reduction strategy.

History

The idea for a tunnel crossing was first promoted by Kent and Essex councils in 1929. A pilot tunnel was completed in 1938, although World War II meant the tunnel was not completed to full diameter and opened to traffic until 1963. Tolls had been in place since the opening of the first tunnel, and were enacted to pay for the construction of the scheme.

After rapid increases in traffic, a second tunnel was initiated, and opened in 1980, allowing each tunnel to handle one direction of traffic. Connection of the crossing to the M25 was completed on the northerly Essex side in 1981 (Junction 31), and to the southerly Kent side in 1986 (Junction 1a).

In an early example of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI), under the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Act 1988 control of the crossing passed from Kent and Essex councils to Dartford River Crossing Limited in 1988, who would fund the construction of the QEII bridge and take on the remaining debt from construction of the tunnels.

In 1991 The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge was opened. The PFI scheme allowed DRC Ltd a 20 year concession to collect revenue, although this could be ended early once debts were repaid. Under the scheme, some parties had expected that the government of the time would scrap the toll once the debt had been repaid and a suitable maintenance fund had been accumulated, which was deemed to have occurred on 31 March 2002.

A fee was retained however under the new principle of Road User Charging, which had been introduced in the 2000 Transport Act to use road pricing for controlling traffic congestion and funding local and national transport schemes. Under this act, the A282 Trunk Road (Dartford-Thurrock Crossing charging scheme) Order 2002 allowed the continuation of the crossing fee, which officially became a charge and not a toll on 1 April 2003. At the same time, under the terms of the 1988 Act the DRC company was liquidated and management of the crossing was contracted to Le Crossing Company Limited on behalf of the Highways Agency. Under the new user charge regime, Le Crossing collects the charges which are set in statutory Charging Orders under the 2000 Act, with the revenue passing in full to the government for redistribution, and annual public accounts of the operation published showing expenses/revenues of the crossing.

From April 2007 to March 2008, 53,240,629 vehicles used the crossing, at a daily average of 145,466 vehicles . This represented a fall back to pre-2002 levels, from averages approaching 150,000 since the turn of the millennium. The highest recorded daily usage was 181,990 vehicles on 23 July 2004.

On the 13th of September 2009 the contractors of the Dartford River Crossing (Le crossing) changed to Connect Plus M25, which again is made up of a consortium of Atkins, Egis, Skanska, and Balfour Beatty.

Charges and DART-Tag

The charge payment booths for both directions of travel are located on the south side of the crossing. Charges can be paid in cash or through a pre-paid DART-Tag.

The cash charges vary for the type of vehicle. Motorcycles are free but there are standard charges for cars, larger two-axle vehicles and larger vehicles with more than two axles. Cash is collected in person at a booth, or dropped into an automatic hopper (the hoppers do not accept 1p and 2p coins). Under the 2008 Charging Order introduced on 15 November 2008, charges between 10pm and 6am were scrapped, but standard daytime rates increased (from £1 to £1.50 for cars).

The DART-Tag is a device that enables drivers to pass the payment booths without having to pay cash, and provides discounted charge rates. Normally inserted into a holster that is stuck to the inside of a vehicle's windscreen, it is detected by sensors at the payment booths and automatically deducts the charge from the driver's pre-paid account. People who use this pre-paid system save money per trip. The prices for DART-Tag account holders are £1 per crossing for a car, £1.75 for a van (a vehicle without windows behind the driver's or passenger's seats) and £3.20 for a multi-goods vehicle. Although the DART-Tag device is free and available to anyone, the tag remains the property of the Dartford Crossing and if lost/stolen or damaged would be charged for.

On 15 November 2008, a local residents' scheme was introduced for car drivers resident in the Dartford and Thurrock council areas. For an annual registration fee of £10, local residents are entitled to 50 free crossings and additional crossings at 20p.

Failure or refusal to pay the charge is a criminal offence under section 22 of The Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Act 1988.

People who are exempt from vehicle excise duty (road tax) can cross for free.