Kentish Express Ashford & District
Operation Brock put in place - then taken down again
Contraflow on then off as Brexit delayed
Highways officials started removing cones and signs on the M20 on Tuesday, a day after it was put in place.
The traffic management scheme came into effect on Monday morning, ahead of the expected Brexit deadline of Thursday October 31.
Only a matter of hours later, it was announced that the UK and EU had agreed a three-month extension of negotiations, effectively rendering the operation pointless.
The contraflow system on the M20 between Ashford and Maidstone was designed in preparation for disruption to services on the English Channel in the event of a no deal Brexit.
It would see the London-bound carriageway used for traffic from both directions together with a 50mph speed limit, leaving the coastbound stretch for lorries.
The work to set the system up - which included the laying of 7,500 traffic cones and 350 signs - took place over the weekend and overran, opening at 7.45am on Monday.
The late opening meant that motorists faced long delays both on the M20 and surrounding routes.
But on Tuesday morning, a Highways England spokesman said the scheme would be stood down “as soon as it is practicable”.
The no deal traffic plan means a contraflow system in place between junctions 8 (Maidstone) and 9 (Ashford) of the motorway.
Highways England workers spent the weekend laying out 7,500 cones and 350 signs before the scheme could be activated on Monday - the same day that the EU agreed a potential Brexit extension to January 31.
Operation Brock is the name for a series of measures which can be deployed to mitigate congestion on the county’s roads in the event of lengthy delays to cross-Channel traffic.
It has stages that can be deployed sequentially, scaling up or down to meet demand.
In addition to the M20 contraflow, lorries can be routed to Manston Airfield and, if needed, the M26 motorway can be closed and used to queue HGVs too.
The operation is an interim measure which was deployed in March and keeps the M20 open in both directions.
A Highways England spokesman said on Monday: “It has been deployed now in response to potential delays at the ports in the coming days or weeks. Its deployment will be kept under continual review and it will be stood down when it is no longer needed.”