Gyratory works cause gridlock in town centre

KCC denies restrictions started an hour early

Work to upgrade Maidstone’s gyratory system brought the town to a standstill this week – and the chaos is set to continue.

Overnight lane closures for resurfacing work led to long queues, with drivers reporting waits of half an hour just to cross the river on Wednesday evening.

The problem was not helped by several sets of traffic lights being out of order.

Most of the bridge system was down to one lane, with those trying to go round the gyratory in the Chatham-bound direction sent on a loop up the A20 Tonbridge Road, down Rocky Hill and back onto the bridge system.

One lane of Rocky Hill was closed at the Broadway Shop- ping Centre, and two lanes were shut on the one-way system at St Peter’s Street once drivers did finally make it onto the gyratory.

Restrictions were also in place along Bishop’s Way and Palace Avenue.

They are set to continue until next Friday.

There were suggestions this week’s 8pm to 5am lane closures were being put in place at least an hour before the advertised times – prolonging the gridlock.

But this was denied by Kent County Council, which said signs are put out earlier in preparation but the lanes were not shut until 8pm.

And while a Tweet on the Maidstone Bridges account warned of resurfacing starting at St Peter’s Street on Monday, closures of the gyratory have not been explicitly mentioned.

But a KCC spokesman said: “The road closures have been advertised from the beginning of the scheme.”

The project is currently in phase three, which includes widening the lower High Street and Bishops Way.

The £5.7 million pound revamp involves building two new lanes to enable commuters using the A229 for Chatham to avoid the bridge system.

The highways authorities claim that once it is completed the project will cut rush-hour delays by a quarter.

Work began in June and is scheduled to be completed next month, although work on paving the lower High Street area will continue until mid-January 2017, due to a delay in sourcing the granite slabs.

Further overnight closures are planned to take place in midNovember.