The M23 motorway connects London and the south coast of England. It is an important road for people travelling to and from Gatwick Airport, Crawley and Brighton. It starts from Hooley in Surrey, where it leaves the A23, and ends at Pease Pottage in West Sussex, where it meets the A23 again. The motorway is about 16 miles (26 km) long.
How Busy is the M23 Motorway?
The motorway has eight lanes between junction 8 (M25) and junction 10 (Crawley), and six lanes between junction 10 and junction 11 (Pease Pottage). The most traffic is on the section between junction 8 and junction 10, which has about 120,000 vehicles every day. This section was changed to a smart motorway between 2017 and 2020, with different speed limits and hard shoulder running to make traffic move better and safer.
The next most traffic is on the section between junction 10 and junction 9 (Gatwick Airport), which has about 100,000 vehicles every day. This section has a special road that goes straight to the airport terminals, making it a main access route for travellers and airport workers.
The least traffic is on the section between junction 11 and junction 10a (Maidenbower), which has about 60,000 vehicles every day. This section was built in 1997 to serve a new area of Crawley called Maidenbower, but it only has a way to get on the motorway northbound and no way to get off southbound.
The M23 motorway will probably stay busy in the future, as it serves a growing population and economy in the south east of England. National Highways keeps an eye on and manages the motorway to make sure it provides a safe and reliable journey for road users.
Traffic delays for the M23 motorway in Southern England. Latest travel news from official UK Traffic Delays open source data.
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Northbound M23 Roadworks and Delays
M23 northbound within J8 | Northbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 northbound at junction J8 . Reason : Emergency barrier repairs. Status : Currently Active. Period : expect disruption until 05:00 on 2 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 23:02:06 GMTM23 northbound between J9 and J8 | Northbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 northbound between junctions J9 and J8 . Lane Closures : Lanes 1 and 2 are closed. Reason : Emergency barrier repairs. Status : Currently Active. Period : expect disruption until 05:00 on 2 December 2023. Lanes Closed : There are two of four lanes closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 23:02:06 GMTlink road from M23 J8 northbound to M25 J7 | Northbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 northbound exit slip at junction J8 . Reason : Roadworks. Status : Currently Active. Period : from 22:13 on 1 December 2023 to 05:00 on 2 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 22:14:25 GMTM23 J11 northbound access | Northbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 northbound entry slip at junction J11 . Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 20:00 and 06:00 from 4 December 2023 to 6 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes will be closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 northbound between J11 and J10A | Northbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 northbound between junctions J11 and J10A . Lane Closures : Lanes 1 and 2 will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 20:00 and 06:00 from 4 December 2023 to 6 December 2023. Lanes Closed : There will be two of three lanes closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 northbound between J11 and J10A | Northbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 northbound between junctions J11 and J10A . Reason : Roadworks scheme is planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : From 20:00 on 4 December 2023 to 06:00 on 7 December 2023.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 northbound within J11 | Northbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 northbound at junction J11 . Lane Closures : Lanes 1 and 2 will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : From 20:00 on 6 December 2023 to 06:00 on 7 December 2023. Lanes Closed : There will be two of three lanes closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTlink road from M25 J7 clockwise to M23 J8 northbound | Northbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 northbound entry slip at junction J8 from the M25 clockwise. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : From 22:00 on 5 December 2023 to 05:00 on 6 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes will be closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 northbound between J9 and J8 | Northbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 northbound between junctions J9 and J8 . Lane Closures : Lane one will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 22:00 and 05:30 from 6 December 2023 to 8 December 2023. Schedule : From 23:00 on 8 December 2023 to 05:30 on 9 December 2023. Lanes Closed : There will be one of four lanes closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTlink road from M25 J7 anti-clockwise to M23 J8 northbound | Northbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 northbound entry slip at junction J8 from the M25 anticlockwise. Lane Closures : Lanes 1 and 2 will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 22:00 and 05:00 from 6 December 2023 to 8 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes will be closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMT
Southbound M23 Roadworks and Delays
M23 J9 southbound access | Southbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 southbound entry slip at junction J9 . Reason : Barrier repairs. Status : Currently Active. Period : expect disruption until 05:00 on 2 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 20:47:05 GMTM23 southbound within J10 | Southbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 southbound at junction J10 . Lane Closures : Lane one is closed. Reason : Road repairs. Status : Currently Active. Period : expect disruption until 06:00 on 2 December 2023. Lanes Closed : There is one of three lanes closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 20:12:57 GMTM23 J10 southbound exit | Southbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 southbound exit slip at junction J10 . Reason : Road repairs. Status : Currently Active. Period : expect disruption until 06:00 on 2 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 20:12:57 GMTM23 southbound within J11 | Southbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 southbound between junctions J10A and J11 . Lane Closures : Lane one will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 20:00 and 06:00 from 4 December 2023 to 6 December 2023. Lanes Closed : There will be one of three lanes closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 southbound within J11 | Southbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 southbound at junction J11 . Lane Closures : Lanes 1, 2 and 3 will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 20:00 and 06:00 from 7 December 2023 to 9 December 2023. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 20:00 and 06:00 from 11 December 2023 to 15 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes will be closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 J11 southbound exit | Southbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 southbound exit slip at junction J11 . Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 20:00 and 06:00 from 4 December 2023 to 6 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes will be closed.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 J11 southbound exit | Southbound | Road Works | West Sussex
Location : The M23 southbound exit slip at junction J11 . Reason : Roadworks scheme is planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : From 20:00 on 4 December 2023 to 06:00 on 15 December 2023.
M23 West Sussex Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTM23 southbound between J8 and J9 | Southbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 southbound between junctions J8 and J9 . Lane Closures : Lanes 1 and 2 will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : From 22:00 on 5 December 2023 to 06:00 on 6 December 2023. Lanes Closed : There will be two of four lanes closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMTlink road from M25 J7 anti-clockwise to M23 J8 southbound | Southbound | Road Works | Surrey
Location : The M23 southbound entry slip at junction J8 from the M25 anticlockwise. Lane Closures : Lanes 1 and 2 will be closed. Reason : Roadworks are planned. Status : Pending. Schedule : Expect disruption everyday between 22:00 and 05:00 from 6 December 2023 to 8 December 2023. Lanes Closed : All lanes will be closed.
M23 Surrey Live Travel News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:16:38 GMT
M23 Motorway Traffic Flow Map
Live traffic flow information. Avoid congestion and plan a smarter route.
Towns the M23 Passes Through
The M23 motorway is a road that connects London and the south coast of England. It passes through two counties: Surrey and West Sussex. Along the way, it goes near or through several towns that have different attractions and features. Here are some of the towns the M23 passes through.
- Hooley: This is where the M23 starts from the A23. It is a small village with a few shops and pubs. It is also close to Netherne-on-the-Hill, a former psychiatric hospital that has been converted into a residential area.
- Merstham: This is where the M23 meets the M25 motorway at junction 8. It is an old town with a history dating back to Roman times. It has a church, a school, a library and a community centre. It is also near Reigate Hill, a scenic spot with views of the countryside and London.
- Redhill: This is where the M23 passes over the A25 road at junction 9a. It is a large town with a railway station, a shopping centre, a theatre and a museum. It is also near Nutfield Marshes, a nature reserve with wetlands and wildlife.
- Gatwick Airport: This is where the M23 has a spur road that leads to the airport terminals at junction 9. It is one of the busiest airports in the UK and Europe, with flights to many destinations around the world. It has two terminals, several hotels, shops, restaurants and car parks.
- Crawley: This is where the M23 goes through the town centre at junction 10. It is a major town with a population of over 100,000 people. It has a shopping mall, a cinema, a leisure park, a stadium and a college. It is also near Tilgate Park, a large park with gardens, lakes and a zoo.
- Maidenbower: This is where the M23 has a new junction (10a) that serves this neighbourhood of Crawley. It was built in 1997 as part of the development of Maidenbower by a construction consortium. It has a school, a community centre, a supermarket and a pub. It only has a northbound slip road and no southbound access.
- Pease Pottage: This is where the M23 ends and joins the A23 again at junction 11. It is a small village with a service station, a hotel, a golf course and a garden centre. It is also near Buchan Country Park, a woodland park with trails and ponds.
The M23 motorway is more than just a road. It passes through many towns that have their own character and charm. The next time you drive on the M23, why not stop by and explore some of these towns?
History of the M23 Motorway
The M23 motorway is a road that connects London and the south coast of England. It has a history that goes back to the 1960s, when it was first planned as part of a larger network of motorways around London. Here are some of the key events in the history of the M23 motorway.
- 1960s: The M23 was proposed as a motorway that would relieve congestion on the A23 through south London and provide a fast link to Gatwick Airport and Brighton. It was also intended to connect to Ringway 2, a planned motorway that would replace the South Circular Road, and Ringway 1, a planned motorway that would encircle central London. However, these plans faced strong opposition from local residents and environmental groups, who objected to the destruction of homes, parks and green spaces.
- 1970s: The M23 was approved for construction only for the section south of the Greater London boundary at Hooley, where it would split from the A23. The northern section was cancelled due to public pressure and lack of funds. The southern section was built between 1972 and 1975, at the same time as the southern section of the M25 from Godstone to Reigate. The M23 had four junctions: junction 7 at Hooley, junction 8 at Merstham (where it met the M25), junction 9 at Gatwick Airport (where it had a spur road to the airport terminals), and junction 10 at Crawley (where it rejoined the A23).
- 1990s: The M23 was extended by one junction in 1997, when a new junction (10a) was opened to serve Maidenbower, a new neighbourhood of Crawley. The junction was financed by the developers of Maidenbower and only had a northbound slip road. The M23 also had some minor improvements, such as widening and resurfacing.
- 2010s: The M23 was upgraded to a smart motorway between 2017 and 2020, between junction 8 and junction 10. This involved converting the hard shoulder into a permanent running lane, installing variable speed limits and CCTV cameras, and adding stopped vehicle detection technology. The aim was to improve traffic flow and safety on this busy section of the motorway.
The M23 motorway is more than just a road. It has a history that reflects the changing needs and challenges of transport planning in London and the south east of England. The next time you drive on the M23, why not appreciate its historical significance?
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Totally unacceptable road closures seems to be who ever built the new M23 should be prosecuted uner the fraud act for a brand new road the amount of ongoing roadworks is laughable, as somebody who leaves for work at 03.30 these road closures make my 27 mile trip to work a 42 mile trip to work god help the enviroment with the extra pollution, yet every time i have travelled down the M23 the only thing you see are empty lane, miles of cones, signs on the gantrys all displaying speed limits and lane closures yet no bloody workforce the mary celeste had more people working on it. Shame on the highways agency, brings to mind the joke of a drink up in a brewery, well done for nothing
Totally agree with every comment made on this forum !.. everytime I’ve been to go to Gatwick, to pickup a friend or relative from the airport the M23 section to or from airport is closed off !! .. the M20 is used by more HGV’s between the Swanley interchange to the M26 and that never get closed off as much as the M23 Gatwick section does, is it a Government ploy to stop people travelling on airplane ?
Once again miles and miles and miles of the M23 southbound closed for no apparent reason. No workmen or lorries, and no warning, no signage. I’d driven north this morning and there was no warning that I saw.
PLUS although there are ‘lane closed’ as you approach, us dutiful drivers move over but are passed by the naughty ones driving straight to the front of the queue. Why aren’t they clobbered ?
BLOODY FRUSTRATING.
You’re meant to stay in lane and the two lanes filter naturally together. There’s nothing dutiful about driving dangerously into an open gap or causing other disruption. I don’t know where this whole idea that you’re supposed to pull in as soon as you see the sign came from. You deserve to be frustrated at the ‘naughty’ people as you obviously don’t know the highway code
This just wouldn’t be allowed to happen up north. Can you imagine the bluster coming from Andy Burnham if they just closed the M56, with him screaming “this wouldn’t be allowed down south”. The truth is we in Sussex get a very raw deal.
What a bloody disgrace highways of England are. I have to travel every night both north bound and south bound . But as usual I’m diverted off to use the A22 . It’s costing me a fortune in fuel. They seem to cone off miles of motorway for what reason. No work’s being carried out but just to piss the public driver off. Some body is being paid a lot of money to run this scheme.
Why can’t there be some road signage letting people know dates for following week of road closures. Its a lottery every night going to London if the road will be open or not.
Yesterday night 2 hours to came back from Croydon to Crawley!!! Every road to Gatwick was closed! M23, Reigate and all the directions to Redhill! Is even close the road to go to the hospital! How can you do this? How can you close all the direction to Gatwick all together plus don’t give easy chance to arrive to the only hospital in all the area?? Is crazy
I had the misfortune of travelling on the M23 at 7.45pm, and catching a diversion that must have been made up by someone on LSD! Going from Brighton to Crawley took an extra 24 miles, but that wasn’t the worst part.
Coming back we caught another mad diversion, but this one had never been checked by those responsible for the signage and in effect it was an infinity loop, where GPS via Google was not aware of the route, and where a sign had been positioned wrongly, which meant we went round in circles for hours!
Checking back to a previous situation we found that the sign was wrong then too. So no one is checking these routes after signs are placed. A sign was placed one stop on a roundabout out, which then meant you went back into the loop.
The journey home from Crawley to Brighton took 3.5 hours!!
Roadworks last night – 17th Sept. – on northbound M23 from Brighton. Started as 2 lanes closed, approximately 9.30pm, so progress very slow, Then got to a roundabout north of Crawley, near turnoff for Horley (probably B2036). Road north to London completely closed. No warning, no diversion signs! Journey back to London took an extra hour. Very disappointing………..and of course, there were no actual roadworks taking place. Be warned.
Closing all lanes southbound every night seems bloody ludicrous, surely there is a better way to complete this work safely and still allow traffic flow. Disruption caused by total closure of a major trunk road is not acceptable. And why oh why does it seem never ending.
Totally in agreement with you there .
it is a disgrace the amount of time it is taking to compleat this job. Each time i go though there are only a hand full of men working. nearly three years and no sign of finishing yet. someone is on a good price. A major road to a very busy airport. Maybe German or Chinese builders should have been employed.
Its been 18 months, although I agree it feels like 3 years, especially when they take all the broken down cars and dump them on the northbound section. We were told at the beginning it would be 2 years and its a long stretch to complete. Totally unnecessary and waste of money. We dont need a so called smart motorway
Will this project even be finished in 2020 ? Still endless closures, no planned end date, no updates.