Drivers should know why work not done at once

At long last the pedestrian bridge over the M20 which was knocked down by a lorry last summer will be replaced. This is good news. At a time when public footpaths are increasingly falling victim to housing developments and road projects it is important we protect the ones that remain, even if they’re unattractive crossovers on the M20.

The bad news is that the work will result in five months of lane closures, 50mph limits and inevitable delays on the section of road between junction 3 for Borough Green and junction 4 for Leybourne.

Motorists have only just got back to normality following the limits put in place to allow for the junction 4 widening scheme.

But it doesn’t end with the footbridge’s completion, because from March until January 2020 Highways England will be undertaking the multimillionpound “smart motorway” project on the six-and-a-half miles between junction 3 for the M26 and junction 5 for Aylesford.

The aim of that project is to relieve pressure on the creaking route so in the long run all our journeys should run more smoothly. On the face of it road users shouldn’t complain – updating the M20 is a necessity and not a luxury, traffic jams and crashes are a daily occurrence, and anything addressing those issues is to be welcomed.

But the extent of projects on this particular stretch will make many question whether they could have been better timed.

Highways England probably has very good reasons for staggering the schemes over three years but it is only right to let motorists know what these reasons are and why combining some projects was out of the question.