Drivers complain of two hour delays on A249 Kent junction with warning of weekend hold-ups

Drivers have complained of more than two hour delays to their journeys as a key slip road on a major route is closed for upgrades.

Some motorists described the congestion as 'mayhem' and a 'complete disaster' with delays expected to continue throughout the weekend.

The issues are affecting the Stockbury roundabout at junction 5 of the M2 in Kent, a vital route for drivers heading towards east Kent and the M20 .

The exit slip road towards the coast has been shut since Wednesday night causing a major headache.

National Highways, who are carrying out a multimillion pound remodelling of the interchange, have apologised as people caught up in the congestion expressed their frustration online.

Mike Dyson said, "I understand the need to do the work and I can understand also the reason for rescheduling as you have. However no warning and whoever is doing the lights needs to realise what is happening and needs training on managing traffic flows. 2.5 hours from bottom of Bluebell Hill to get home. Not good."

Jeannette Elliott said, "Yesterday was a complete disaster traffic was backed up down the lanes for over two hours."

While Mollie Gambrill added, "Something needs to be done about the lights changing if you’re coming from the M2 London bound on to Stockbury roundabout, all week when I’ve reached the turn off, traffic has been queuing on the hard shoulder and it’s extremely dangerous and it won’t be long before there’s an accident because of it."

National Highways released an update on the project which said, "We’re really sorry about the congestion the closure has caused, but it means there’ll be less disruption over the next few months.

"We’ve created a temporary tie in from the roundabout onto the northbound A249 slip road and simply couldn’t do that without closing the dedicated link from the eastbound slip road onto the northbound A249.

"Originally, we planned to do this over two weekends, but that would have affected the Kent County Show, so we’ve condensed the work into this week.

"We’re using temporary traffic lights on the roundabout (at the bottom of the eastbound slip road) to control the flow of traffic and for safety reasons. It’s a short slip road and there’s very little room for queuing.

"There are only two lanes on the M2 at this point too, so we need to make sure traffic doesn’t back up onto the motorway.

"We recognise there has been significant congestion over the last two days and some congestion will continue over the weekend. We’d really like to thank all those impacted for their continued patience and support during these works."

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