Operation Stack no longer in place on M20
Operation Stack is no longer in place on the M20, police have said.
It was activated yesterday following a counter terror operation at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel which caused gridlock.
The emergency procedure sees lorries line up to enter the port to ease congestion.
Kent Police and Border Force staff carried out enhanced checks on every vehicle and passenger crossing the Channel, which created traffic queues of up to 15 miles, and waits of up to nine hours.
Police say there may still be residual delays in the area while the road network returns to normal.
How does Operation Stack work?
Freight within Operation Stack is separated into two queues on either side of the carriageway (on the hard shoulder and lane 3) – one for tunnel traffic and one for port traffic.
Space is left in the middle of the motorway to allow for emergency vehicles e.g. freight breaking down, medical emergencies etc.
Queues are released when capacity is available at the ports.
You may see stretches of the motorway clear from time to time as groups of freight are moved down the Operation Stack queue in stages when capacity becomes available.
Non-freight traffic is filtered at the first junction that Operation Stack is implemented from and diverted onto the A20 to rejoin the M20 in front of the Operation Stack queue.