Fears that gridlock could last years when work begins

Widening coincides with motorway improvements

Residents fear years of traffic gridlock around Ashford when work starts on major new schemes next year.

Last week the Kentish Express reported that contractor Jackson Civil Engineering had been awarded the £32 million contract to widen the A28 Chart Road.

The works, scheduled to start in 2018, will see the road widened into a dual carriageway between the Tank roundabout and the Matalan roundabout, alongside the Godinton Park housing estate and the Cobbs Wood Industrial Estate.

I t will also mean major upgrades of the two roundabouts to cope with the new traffic, as well as a new bridge over the railway at Chart Leacon.

The road is already a major pinch point for traffic at busy times, and the widening is expected to help ease congestion before 5,750 homes are built at Chilmington Green.

But the work will coincide with improvements to the A2070 Bad Munstereifel Road and junction 10a of the M20, leaving some residents fearing gridlock when work starts next year.

On Facebook, James Allen posted: “[It’s] a great big sticking plaster over a problem entirely of Ashford Borough Council’s own making. It will ease congestion until Chilmington Green starts to fill up. Then it will be just as bad as it is now, with twice the volume of traffic.”

Residents in Godinton fear being “choked” by traffic fumes, and Emma Jenkins fears that the small hills used as sound barriers at the edge of the estate will be removed.

Some readers stated that other roads such as Brookfield Road need to be repaired before thinking of building new roads, while others fear that the new road scheme will simply shift traffic problems elsewhere.

Naomi Kruger Bashford commented: “What a joke, they’ll just be moving the pinch point to Drovers roundabout, which is the worst designed piece of road I’ve ever driven on. And they’ve allowed developments to encircle it so now it can never be changed.”

Jay Funnell said: “So how big will the queues be on the Singleton roundabout and the Great Chart bypass? Just moving the problem further up the road.”

Despite this, there is some support for the plans.

Lynne Greenfield wrote: “It will be needed when Chilmington is built. If it eases morning congestion it will be worth it in the end.”

What do you think? Write to Kentish Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford TN24 8JR or email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk

Picture: Gary Browne There are plans to widen the A28 Chart Road between the Tank and Matalan roundabouts