A motorway slip road has reopened after months of works and weeks of delays.

National Highways said the coastbound entry and exit of the M2 at Junction 5 for Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Maidstone, which has been shut since its closure on September 11 last year, has reopened.

The work on the slip is part of a £92 million upgrade of the Stockbury roundabout, which will see the A249 become a flyover.

Highways bosses had hoped this stage of the project would be completed by January 13, but it was delayed due to cold weather.

The cold snap originally delayed the reopening by 10 days to January 23.

The closure was then extended for another week with a spokesman saying: "We’ve made good progress on the coastbound slip roads recently but due to the cold weather we’re currently experiencing and forecast for the rest of the week, we’ll be unable to complete the last stages of the work such as putting down the final layer of surfacing and line painting.

"If we carry out the work when it’s too cold, the surface quickly freezes, becomes brittle and could crack, meaning we’d need to return and resurface the slips again, causing further disruption.

"We’d like to apologise that the slips aren’t reopening when planned but unfortunately the freezing temperatures this week, have caused the delay."

Drivers will no longer need to use alternative routes such as the A2.

Temporary traffic lights have also been in use in Key Street and Bapchild this week making queues worse.

There has also been pressure on Junction 3 of the M2 at Blue Bell Hill which forms part of the official diversion route.

The reopening brings changes to the road layout, meaning vehicles accessing the A249 towards Sittingbourne from the M2 coastbound will need to use lane 1 of the slip, with a new segregated lane heading to the northbound carriageway.

Drivers travelling northbound on the A249 towards the Stockbury roundabout will need to be in lane 1 to access the M2 eastbound on slip, as this lane is now for the slip road only.

All other A249 traffic, including those heading towards Sittingbourne, will need to use lane 2 towards the roundabout..

The revamp was given the green light in June 2021to help traffic flow at one of the county's busiest roundabouts, with the flyover promised to cut queues on the congested A249.