A Kent County Council (KCC) spokesperson said: “We understand how frustrated people living and working in the area feel about the severe traffic delays they have experienced this week while work continues on three major road schemes near Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey.
“Our teams have been working closely with Network Rail since they announced their plans to carry out urgent work to replace the steel ropes that lift the Kingsferry Bridge and we have put in measures to reduce the impact on traffic. These have included making sure that there are no other planned roadworks permitted in the area and part funding with Network Rail an additional bus.
“Our priority is to keep road users safe and it is not possible to remove the traffic management from the A249 or the Sheppey-bound A249 entry slip at Grovehurst Road because works are currently under construction and it is not safe to open them up to road users.
“However, to alleviate some of the disruption, we have extended the area of free recovery for broken down vehicles on the A249 – which exacerbated the traffic delays in the area this week - and we are placing recovery vehicles along the route.
“We are also declining all further requests for non-emergency roadworks in the area for the duration of the closures of the Kingsferry Bridge. Our highways inspectors are closely monitoring local roads to ensure any emergency works required by utility companies are known and completed with as quickly as possible.
“Partners from the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum, including KCC and Network Rail, are taking this matter extremely seriously and meeting regularly to ensure risks of disruption are identified and managed as best as possible.
“We understand people may be anxious or frustrated about journey times taking longer and our advice remains to check travel times before you set off while these essential works are taking place.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- For free recovery in the signed zone on the A249 call 0870 600 3444
