M2 junction 5 improvements

[frediculous_biggs]

Interesting, thanks for the updates

[Darren]

Some images, taken yesterday, by a chap with a drone - he posted them on the local A249 discussion group.

Of note: The southbound A249 carriageway is now running on the slip road, the 1996-era road having been grubbed up already.
The new slip road from the M2 has been tarmacked and really stands out.
The new link road between the old A249 (Maidstone Road) to Oad Street is open and shows up well, as does the old A249 (also grubbed up, by the looks of it).
Heading north from Maidstone, the A249 runs on the former southbound carriageway, the southbound traffic is using what will become a slip road.

The project managers are doing a great job of keeping a very busy junction flowing despite these massive changes taking place.

The first picture is looking north, towards Sheppey, while the other two are looking south, towards Maidstone.

[AnOrdinarySABREUser]

Should be updated on OSM now!

[Darren]

Should be updated on OSM now!

Nicely done! It's always good to see those dotted "coming soon" lines on a map.

[tom66]

As '[t]he approach to the junction from the north and east, in particular, experiences high levels of delay', a good option would be grade separation of the roundabout to separate these flows. I admit that would be an optimistic interpretation of 'improvements to slip roads and enhanced junction approaches' but surely replacing a flat roundabout with a simple two-level GSJ would be possible for £50m-100m, and provide much more benefit than merely widening the approaches?

I absolutely agree - grade separating the roundabout is definitely the right way forward.

Look, it's easy!
stockbury.png

Is there any road on the UK highways network with 30 degree banking? If not, this could be the perfect prototype!

[Ben302]

When they were finishing the tie in for the Southbound off slip on the A249, they closed it for an entire weekend and sent traffic along Maidstone Road (the Oad Street link had yet to open) and at the point where the new link banks round to the left and up the hill, they created a permanent T junction with a rout down too the old route to the Stockbury roundabout. This road was in use by general traffic for 48 hours or so before being closed by cones when the new link road opened on the Monday morning. This has got to be a record for a new road to be in use then closed again. The road is still extant up to the works compound and has been removed from there to the roundabout

[Brenley Corner]

Latest updates and drone footage via the local press.

A249 Northbound On-Slip due open in around 10 days.

[Ben302]

Getting off the M2 coastbound at J5 is sure gonna be fun for a few days with temporary lights controlling a single lane entry point to the roundabout. It says it will be manually controlled at peak times, I imagine the peak time queues will be back beyond Junction 4. today I went through these works and it seems that there will be a temporary tie in to the main A249 carriageway while they construct the acceleration lane, which much like it's counterpart on the southbound side, will be constructed to a rigid pavement with an SMA overlay. Also tarmac going down south of Stockbury roundabout on what will be the new Northbound carriageway and off-slip. seems that they are really making good progress with the southern approach to the flyover too. since the new Maidstone Road link opened and traffic diverted away from the roundabout, they've been able to continue construction of the dedicated left turn lane on to the Londonbound M2, today I saw them breaking out the hard shoulder and lane 1, behind the Quick moveable barrier and now the earthworks have restarted you can clearly see the path it will take.

[AnOrdinarySABREUser]

Slightly unrelated, but I'm surprised that KCC haven't removed any of the at-grade right turns from the A249 in relation to this scheme. It's so unsafe - there's been a handful of impatient folk who decide to pull out in front of oncoming traffic turning right, which is so dangerous. It's a disaster waiting to happen given that the AADT on the A249 between Maidston and Stockbury exceeds 40,000. Not even the A299 in North Kent, which is of similar importance has these right turns, and even then some of the junctions leave a lot to be desired. It's a no brainer, really.

[Brenley Corner]

Slightly unrelated, but I'm surprised that KCC haven't removed any of the at-grade right turns from the A249 in relation to this scheme. It's so unsafe - there's been a handful of impatient folk who decide to pull out in front of oncoming traffic turning right, which is so dangerous. It's a disaster waiting to happen given that the AADT on the A249 between Maidston and Stockbury exceeds 40,000. Not even the A299 in North Kent, which is of similar importance has these right turns, and even then some of the junctions leave a lot to be desired. It's a no brainer, really.

It would be great if that can be done but Kent is cash-strapped right now and all their existing approved schemes keep slipping back. Unfortunately the A249 north of the M20 is not amongst them.

[jackal]

Slightly unrelated, but I'm surprised that KCC haven't removed any of the at-grade right turns from the A249 in relation to this scheme. It's so unsafe - there's been a handful of impatient folk who decide to pull out in front of oncoming traffic turning right, which is so dangerous. It's a disaster waiting to happen given that the AADT on the A249 between Maidston and Stockbury exceeds 40,000. Not even the A299 in North Kent, which is of similar importance has these right turns, and even then some of the junctions leave a lot to be desired. It's a no brainer, really.

The right turn onto Honeycrock Hill has already been closed as part of this scheme.

There is a local campaign for a GSJ at the adjoining Church Hill, but so far they've only been offered a footbridge:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kenton ... an-282956/

Further down the road there was a proposal for a dumbbell, which would have closed a reserve gap, as part of the Binbury Park development.



This was rejected last year: viewtopic.php?p=1200353

[Ben302]

The new Northbound slip road from the M2 J5 onto the A249 opened yesterday morning as planned. Now the freeflow is now complete, I can understand why the works were undertaken to move the slip road alignment further westwards. The radius is quite tight although it is a single lane with acres of hatching but the surface is very smooth going up the hill until you reach the temporary tie in with the existing A249, as beyond it is where the acceleration lane is yet to be built. I imagine more weekend closures are planned while they construct it. elsewhere the former A249 has already started to be broken up and removed. South of the roundabout tarmac is going down on the line of the Northbound A249 and exit slip road. and construction of the flyover is progressing at a pace now with its path now becoming more evident. I imagine the scheme page will be updated soon

[Ben302]

Update on this. Today saw a huge milestone as the first beams are lifted into place on the southbound side of the flyover, which since the ;ast update has seen significant progress including retaining wall construction and abutment construction. Elsewhere foundations have been laid for the A249 Southbound to M2 Londonbound freeflow link and A249 Northbound to M2 coastbound is now awaiting it's final surfacing. Also with the A249 on the north side of the roundabout running on the new slip roads, the embankment and abutments for the flyover are now being progressed. article below.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbou ... ed-291859/

[Peter Freeman]

I drove northbound A249 to eastbound M2 through the works a couple of days ago, on my way to Margate from Heathrow. The temporary signage was sloppy and quite ambiguous. I almost ended up going onto the M2 westbound slip, but just managed to recover by doing a complete circuit of the roundabout!

[Ben302]

I drove northbound A249 to eastbound M2 through the works a couple of days ago, on my way to Margate from Heathrow. The temporary signage was sloppy and quite ambiguous. I almost ended up going onto the M2 westbound slip, but just managed to recover by doing a complete circuit of the roundabout!

Agreed the signage could be better on the northbound side as due to the daily queues on the northbound approach to Stockbury the signs warning you that you have to be in the left lane for the M2 coastbound entry tend to be impeded by stoppped traffic. and only really become visible once you near the roundabout. another issue is they've painted lane guidance onto the lanes themselves which people ignore as they try to change lanes last minute. I've had issues when I've been in the right hand lane to head either towards a249 north or the London bound M2, I get people speeding up the left lane for the M2 coast bound and cut in by driving across the painted divide where the M2 coast bound exit tie in peels off from the existing roundabout (it used to have white lines and cones guiding traffic off the roundabout onto the slip) The cones are repeatedly squashed by traffic they've not bothered replacing them for a few weeks. Upshot of this is that traffic needing to move left to head onto the A249 can't move over after the off slip as cars cut across blocking their exit and forcing them to do a lap of the roundabout to get back to the A249 north. The recent opening of the new Northbound slip road has reduced the space to get into the left lane even further as it too is accessed by a short stretch of temporary tarmac as the Northbound side of the roundabout has yet to be built.

[Ben302]

Scheme page has been updated recently detailing the next phases of work, and it's going to involve significant TM changes and closures.

Now that the beams for the first third of the Stockbury flyover have been placed, along with its falsework, focus is now turning to constructing the dedicated slip roads from both the Northbound and Southbound A249 onto the M2. The foundations and kerblines of which have largely been completed on the A249 northbound approach (just awaiting final surfacing), while on the southbound side is taking shape behind barriers and cones and is planned to be tied in to the London-bound entry slip during a 17 day closure starting on the 15th of September. Also starting from this date, the A249 between Stockbury to Church Lane, will be reduced to one lane each way until February 24, while they construct and realign the A249 approach to the flyover. Much of the Nortbound side is substantially there, just awaiting its final surfacing and barriers. The aim of the single lane running is to construct the concrete central barriers sparating the main carriageway and the LAR.

[Ben302]

The A249 Northbound carriageway approaching the Stockbury roundabout was today diverted onto its new final alignment along with the opening of the dedicated slip road onto the coastbound M2. Aside from temporary tie ins at the Church lane end and at the Stockbury roundabout, its a nice smooth bit of road, however in the general arrangement plan it showed it as a two lane slip with the dedicated freeflow as a separate diverge with two lanes meeting the roundabout. The seemingly permanent markings have been done to segregate the freeflow into its own lane with one lane heading to the roundabout. Elsewhere the freeflow from the south bound A249 onto the M2 london bound is nearing completion and is due to open next Monday 2/10 its already having its surfacing put down and all left to do is barriers and signage and I imagine some temporary tie in as the works will slightly shorten the slip road and a tie in will be needed until the enlarged Stockbury roundabout is finished. Next week will see the start of work to remove the old A249 Northbound carriageway and reconstruct it as the new southbound carriageway. This has meant that all of the crossovers have now been closed, which have upset many people in the villages of South green, Stockbury and Yelsted which rely on being able to cross the A249 to access the villages, now the only way in is by using Atockbury roundabout and the Hucking crossover to gain access, adding time to their journeys.

[Fluid Dynamics]

The A249 Northbound carriageway approaching the Stockbury roundabout was today diverted onto its new final alignment along with the opening of the dedicated slip road onto the coastbound M2. Aside from temporary tie ins at the Church lane end and at the Stockbury roundabout, its a nice smooth bit of road, however in the general arrangement plan it showed it as a two lane slip with the dedicated freeflow as a separate diverge with two lanes meeting the roundabout. The seemingly permanent markings have been done to segregate the freeflow into its own lane with one lane heading to the roundabout. Elsewhere the freeflow from the south bound A249 onto the M2 london bound is nearing completion and is due to open next Monday 2/10 its already having its surfacing put down and all left to do is barriers and signage and I imagine some temporary tie in as the works will slightly shorten the slip road and a tie in will be needed until the enlarged Stockbury roundabout is finished. Next week will see the start of work to remove the old A249 Northbound carriageway and reconstruct it as the new southbound carriageway. This has meant that all of the crossovers have now been closed, which have upset many people in the villages of South green, Stockbury and Yelsted which rely on being able to cross the A249 to access the villages, now the only way in is by using Atockbury roundabout and the Hucking crossover to gain access, adding time to their journeys.

I look forward to checking the new arrangements out this weekend as I need to travel just north of Canterbury, hopefully the road will not be subject to closures. Whilst I can understand the frustration of locals I for one would not want to have to rely on the crossovers on this piece of road. It's a pity nothing is being done about the Church Lane Junction as this could provide turning opportunities in tandem with Stockbury without cause too much inconvenience.

[Ben302]

Scheme page updated today. M2 London bound entry is planned to be reopened ahead of schedule on Thursday (just needs top layer of surfacing and markings) signs and other works all done. However on the page its grim news for regular users of the Stockbury roundabout as the northern section along with the tie ins from the coast bound m2 and A249 heading to the roundabout itself, will be closed from the 4th of October until the end of November so they can construct the northern part of the flyover as it's very close to the existing live lanes. Also to assist with traffic management they're closing the Northbound exit at the A2 Key street junction so diverted traffic will have to use Bobbing junction further north. This sounds a good call given that the A2/Key Street junction is partially signalised and is always busy as a result, whereas bobbing has none and can easily cope with increased traffic volumes.

[Ben302]

I look forward to checking the new arrangements out this weekend as I need to travel just north of Canterbury, hopefully the road will not be subject to closures. Whilst I can understand the frustration of locals I for one would not want to have to rely on the crossovers on this piece of road. It's a pity nothing is being done about the Church Lane Junction as this could provide turning opportunities in tandem with Stockbury without cause too much inconvenience.

church lane is a LILO at the moment and will remain so until the project is completed although the crossover will be reopening once the tie in works are done. the U turn is being removed so the next possible one is Chalky Lane a mile up the road