A motorway junction which caused heavy traffic this morning after weekend roadworks overrun is now open.

The M2 London-bound entry slip road was still shut at Junction 5 for the A249 Stockbury roundabout in Sittingbourne this morning due to works which were scheduled to finish yesterday.

Vehicles were seen queuing back to junction 4 for Gillingham.

The junction reopened at 1pm today (March 18).

This weekend saw a full closure of the Stockbury roundabout exit to the M2 junction 5 London-bound from 8pm on Friday, March 15. It was due to open again at 5am today.

Currently, the A249 Maidstone-bound from the Stockbury roundabout to Church Hill, along with the M2 junction 5 London-bound exit slip, and the Church Hill exit onto the A249 are closed until 5am on Saturday, March 30.

Contractors originally announced that the next closure would not be until March 28 and 29.

However, officials recently confirmed there would be more scheduled closures planned along the busy stretch of road over the next two weeks.

A spokesman said: “This is while we construct the central reservation between the two parts of the slip.

“We had hoped to complete this without any closures on the entry slip, however this is not possible.

“The dedicated link from the A249 Maidstone-bound (from Sittingbourne) to the M2 London-bound will remain open.”

To join the M2 London-bound from Stockbury roundabout, motorists must use the A249 Sheppey-bound to Key Street Roundabout, and join the A249 southbound to use the M2 London-bound dedicated link.

The closure will also be in place throughout next week from 8pm until 5am each night until Friday, March 22.

There will then be another full weekend closure from 8pm, Friday March 22, until 5am on Monday, March 26.

An M2 coastbound exit slip and A249 closure are also scheduled.

From today (Monday), the dedicated link between the M2 coast-bound and the A249 Sheppey-bound (towards Sittingbourne) will be closed overnight until Friday, March 22 from 8pm to 5am each night.

During the closures, motorists are being asked to use the Stockbury roundabout to join the A249 Sheppey-bound from the M2 coastbound.