Major junction upgrades will be implemented on the A2 as Highways England looks to ease pressure with the London Paramount theme park and the Ebbsfleet Garden City on the horizon.

The Bean interchange at Bluewater shopping centre and the section going towards London at Cobham and Pepper Hill, are often rush-hour hotspots.

There are regular accidents on the stretch as happened on Wednesday when an eight-car pile-up near the A227 junction caused chaos.

That’s the situation now but traffic volumes are set to soar with the opening of the proposed Paramount theme park in Swanscombe in 2019 and the garden city at Ebbsfleet which will include an estimated 15,000 homes over 1,035 acres.

Ingress Park estate residents are concerned about the two giant developments with anxious posts on the Ingress Park Facebook site.

Currently even the slightest roadworks ends with frustrating traffic problems in London Road at Greenhithe, which leaves many drivers waiting for prolonged periods just to leave their neighbourhood.

Highways England was unable to give figures when the Messenger asked for specific traffic predictions.

A spokesman said:“The country’s major roads are vital to the economy and Highways England’s investment programme, the biggest since the 1970s, will help to ensure that Kent has the transport links that it needs to prosper.

“In North Kent we have plans for two major junction upgrades on the A2 at Ebbsfleet and Bean, as well as the M2 at junction 5.”

The agency estimates the upgrades will cost between £50-£100m each. They will be designed to “increase capacity at the junctions and their approaches”.

The spokesman added: “Alongside these increases in capacity we are working with London Paramount and the newly created Ebbsfleet Development Corporation to facilitate development in Kent Thameside and agree how their impact on the road network will be mitigated.”

The Lower Thames Crossing, which options include a possible locations east of Gravesend, on the Swanscombe peninsula and next to Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford, is another development that the organisation is planning for.

The spokesman said: “We are also assessing options for a new Lower Thames Crossing, while completing work to improve journeys at the existing Dartford Crossing through the introduction of Dart Charge.”

Leader of Dartford council, Cllr Jeremy Kite said the works were “imperative” and that he was “really pleased” with the news.

He said: “We’ve been pushing for this for about for years, it actually pre-dates Paramount. It has been caused by the sheer weight of traffic at Bluewater and Ebbsfleet. We’ve been trying to get it on to the transport investment programme but the problem we’ve had was waiting for it to get through the Treasury, because they’re quite expensive these upgrades. I think they’re about £25million.”