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News

Closure of A2 near Bluewater sees drivers held in traffic for hours

By: Jack Dyson jdyson@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 10:54, 22 August 2021

Updated: 10:59, 22 August 2021

Angry motorists have branded a weekend-long closure of parts of the A2 "shambolic" after being held in heavy traffic for hours.

The main road near Bluewater at Greenhithe was sealed off on Friday night by Highways England for the construction of a new flyover - and will not reopen until 6am tomorrow.

Onlookers described the traffic along the A2 near Bluewater as "mad". Picture: Twitter/@Benb111

Scores of people were stuck in heavy traffic yesterday along the route, with one claiming to have been sat in queues for five hours.

Taking to Twitter, a dejected driver wrote: "Absolutely shambolic.

"Five hours at an almost standstill to go through Ebbsfleet."

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Meanwhile, another social media user said the timing of the work was "disgraceful", as it is the second-to-last weekend before schools reopen.

There were also reports yesterday that the roads in Northfleet, Swanscombe and Greenhithe had ground to a halt.

An artist's impression of what the junction improvements and new Bean flyover will look like Photo: Highways England

"Absolutely disgusting closing the A2 on a weekend," a motorist complained.

"I'm stuck and can't get to Bluewater. How many thousands of hours of people's valuable weekend time have you wasted?"

Due to the work, the coast-bound carriageway of the A2 is closed between the exit and entry slip roads at the Bean junction, while two lanes of the route are shut from the M25 on the approach to Bean.

The London-bound carriageway of the A-road is also sealed off from Ebbsfleet to the M25.

A number of diversion routes have been set up, including:

Official diversion routes set by Highways England as part of new bridge over A2 at Bean being installed in major upgrade to A2 network near Bluewater.

The new flyover will be located to the east of the existing Bean Lane bridge, and will form part of major junction improvements at Bean and Ebbsfleet.

How improvements at the A2 near Bean and Bluewater will take shape

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In a reminder on Wednesday to those travelling this weekend, Edgar Vila Pouca, of Highways England, said: “We know this is a very busy junction and we would only close the carriageway at Bean if absolutely necessary.

“There are likely to be significant delays at times and would urge anyone travelling along the A2 this weekend or in the local area to look at alternative routes if possible and to allow extra time for journeys.”

Highways bosses want to overhaul the junctions in order to help the route cope with the influx of new homes in the area, including the 15,000 in the pipeline for Ebbsfleet Garden City.

The road scheme - which is set for completion by 2023 - was given the green light in June 2019 following a public inquiry.

The Bean and Ebbsfleet junctions are 1.2 miles apart with the former linking traffic with Bluewater, while the latter links the A2 with the B259 Southfleet Road.

Cleveland Bridge UK Ltd has manufactured the bridge beams in Darlington for the work at Bean. Picture: Highways England

The scheme includes enlarging the roundabouts to the north and south of the A2.

At the Ebbsfleet junction, Highways England says the proposals "will broadly follow the existing road layout" but with the roundabouts extended and traffic lights installed.

Attempts were made to contact Highways England for further comment over the queues.

Keep up-to-date with developments on transport and stories that will impact how you travel

Read more: All the latest news from Dartford

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