LOVE it or loathe it, there is no denying the M25 has transformed the driving experience for Essex motorists.

Britain’s busiest motorway is exactly 30 years old this week, with some arguing the orbital road has changed lives for the better by boosting economic growth and creating more links with the rest of the country.

But critics point to its reputation as the nation’s largest car park and say it has simply attracted more traffic to the roads.

The M25 was designed to carry up to 100,000 vehicles each day, but nearly double that use the motorway today.

A Royal Commission first suggested a ring road for London in 1905, but the first part of the M25 did not open until September 1975.

The final 13-mile section was opened by prime minister Margaret Thatcher on October 29, 1986.

A 2013 AA poll of 23,500 drivers found that the motorway was the most hated in Britain.

AA spokesman Jack Cousens said: “The M25 is an important strategic road, but it is subject of much derision from the public.

“We wish the M25 a happy anniversary, but hope within the next 30 years answers are found to the eternal problems of congestion.”

Sunday also marked the 25th anniversary of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at the Dartford Crossing, which was opened by the Queen on October 30, 1991.

Under the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Act of 1988, tolls should have stopped when the crossing had been paid for in March 2002.

But charges have been kept on under a separate law, passed in 2000, with funds going to the Treasury where they are ring-fenced for transport purposes.

Highways England has proposed building a new tunnel under the Thames between Tilbury and Gravesend in a bid to reduce pressure at Dartford.

The crossing, which will cost an estimated £4.3billion to £5.9billion, would be the first new crossing of the Thames east of London since the QEII bridge opened.

About 50 million people use the QEII bridge each year, up by 20 million since it was opened.

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: “Motorists queuing today, particularly those heading northbound into the original tunnels, will be wondering whether the Government’s plans for a new crossing further down the Thames Estuary will be enough to tackle this notorious bottleneck, or whether the £145million they pay each year couldn’t usefully fund improvements at the existing site.”