Overnight and full M40 closures are planned at Loudwater for bearing and joint work, but no dates are out yet. The £23m job runs to October 2027.
Repairs to the M40’s Loudwater Viaduct in High Wycombe are a £23 million job that is due to run until October 2027. Some of the work will need overnight closures of the motorway, and some will need lane and full road closures.
No closure dates have been published yet.
Overview
- What: refurbishment of Loudwater Viaduct, the 420-metre bridge that carries the M40 over the Loudwater valley.
- Cost and timing: £23 million, scheduled to finish in October 2027.
- Closures to come: overnight carriageway closures for bearing replacement on four spans, and lane and full road closures to replace joints across 24 spans.
- Dates: none published yet.
Who is doing the work
The specialist contractor VolkerLaser was appointed to the job by UK Highways M40 Ltd. The contractor says site set-up began in March 2026 and the contracted work started in mid-April (VolkerLaser, 17 June 2026).
So far the work has been underneath the deck. Scaffolding has gone up around the piers, and enclosed access platforms hang below the spans so repairs can be made in a contained space.
What the repairs include
VolkerLaser lists the full scope as:
- concrete repairs across eight spans, done one span at a time so each can cure
- sprayed concrete repairs and painting
- jacking up four spans to replace their bearings
- grit blasting and repainting the steelwork
- a new cathodic protection system, which stops the steel reinforcement corroding
- replacing the transverse joints across all 24 spans of the deck
In October the contractor said its jacking system was in operation. Concrete repairs and protective coating work were under way (VolkerLaser, 23 October 2026). That update is also where it gives the £23 million figure.
Where the closures come in
Most of this happens below the road, so traffic has kept moving. Two parts of the job cannot be done that way.
- Bearings: the four spans are jacked during overnight carriageway closures, under traffic management.
- Deck joints: replacing the joints across the 24 spans needs lane closures and full road closures.
Neither the contractor nor National Highways has given dates for these.
National Highways’ own road closure report for the week from 13 November does show the M40 southbound shut between junction 4 (Handy Cross) and junction 3 (Loudwater) overnight on Wednesday 18 November, 10.15pm to 6am. It lists that closure as maintenance work and does not link it to the viaduct.
What it means for you
If you use the M40 between Handy Cross and Loudwater, nothing changes yet. The full closures for the joint work are still to be scheduled.
National Highways publishes closures in its seven-day report, and each week’s M40 closures around Wycombe go on our High Wycombe roadworks page.
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