Gates to be installed on M2 between Faversham and Sittingbourne
GATES are to be installed on the M2 from this weekend to allow the police to turn traffic around when an incident blocks the motorway.
Motorists will be able to cross to the other carriageway through the gaps in the central reservation to continue their journey instead of being trapped in jams.
The three gates, between the Sittingbourne and Faversham junctions, will allow additional access for emergency vehicles.
The move follows a series of crashes on that stretch of road which have led to long tailbacks.
John Burns, route performance manager for the Highways Agency, said: "We are always looking at ways to minimise the impact of major incidents on drivers.
"We tell drivers when there has been a major incident so they can delay their journey or take an alternative route but some are unlucky enough to get caught behind incidents. These new gates will allow us to keep traffic moving."
During the work the outside lane will be closed and a 50mph speed limit imposed on the other. Traffic will also have to use the hard shoulder.
Comments
by steve hadfield, broadstairs
Saturday, February 20 2010, 10:30PM
“Fantastic idea. I once had a medical emergency while stuck in traffic on the M2. Police offered to evacuate my child by ambulance along the hard shoulder whilest two other ambulances delt with a sever crash. I had to run two miles down the hard shoulder to the location of the incident to contact police with my own emergency, when my 3 yr old child returning from plastic surgery at evelina hospital, ran out of pain control medication desperately needed by him. We should have completed the journey within time, but the crash ahead of us tied us into a ticking nightmare.
The police officer was fantastic and i thank him for the help he gave us.”