It's been called "the road to nowhere", "the world's biggest car park", "a grim necklace" and "the road to hell." Everything but compliments, as you can see.

It doesn't help matters that the M25 was pompously opened by Margaret Thatcher - so easy to associate with 1980s motto "greed is good" , the destruction of the trade union movement and the industrial debacle of northern Britain.

Still, the M25 - which has recently made its 25^th anniversary - is the most important motorway in the UK, allowing 15% of the country's motorway traffic volume. The M25 is also fundamental in linking other ten other major arterial motorways, sparing London huge volumes of traffic and providing a main trade corridor of international importance.

It is fair to say that its main problems come from underdevelopment, as the upgrade works required to decongest it have not been completed yet. Soon after the motorway opened in 1986 traffic levels exceeded maximum designed capacity and by 1993 the motorway that was designed for a maximum of 88,000 vehicles per day was carrying 200,000.

Among those who demand improvement is Paul Watters, head of AA Public Affairs: "The AA believes the UK's most important motorway must be improved to help economic recovery - allowing traffic to stagnate would be unthinkable. The huge M25 improvements now being constructed and the others planned will help alleviate congestion."

Roads Minister Mike Penning, said: "Before 2015 we aim to start work on two major schemes to open up sections of the hard shoulder on the M25 as an additional running lane, benefiting all road users, including freight traffic and commuters, and boosting the economy."

So, time will tell if the road we love to hate finally gets all the investment that it deserves. Hopefully, we won't have to wait for another 25 years.