The M2 has fully reopened this morning - nine days after a huge 15ft deep hole swallowed up the road surface.

Work to stabilise the dene hole - a chalk well - has finished and the motorway near Lynsted declared safe.

More resurfacing work took place overnight, with all lanes having reopened at 6am today.

The temporary 40mph speed limit past the site has also been removed and the national speed limit restored.

Two lanes - lane one and the hard shoulder - had been open past the hole in each direction overnight.

The huge chasm - originally widely believed to have been a sinkhole - began causing traffic gridlock when it was discovered on the central reservation on Tuesday afternoon.

Simon Duke, Highways Agency asset delivery manager for Kent, said: "I would like to thank drivers for their patience and cooperation throughout the work to stabilise the hole that appeared on the M2 near Lydgate in Kent last Tuesday.

"Our investigations are complete and the hole has been stabilised, meaning that traffic can safely use all lanes of the M2."

The hole is believed to be a denehole - an historic man-made hole that might have been used to mine chalk hundreds of years ago.

Highways bosses said it was filled in when the M2 was built.

But wet weather is said to have "contributed to the destabilisation of the ground", causing the hole to appear.

Forty tonnes of pea shingle has been used to stabilise the hole and geotechnical investigations confirm the ground beneath the M2 is safe for traffic.

Transport minister Robert Goodwill visited the crater last Thursday after being asked by the Prime Minister to see why it was taking so long to get the problem fixed.