Business, Freight News, Road

Brexit delays begin

[ October 28, 2019   //   Chris ]

Operation Brock, which creates a truck holding area on the M20 to provide resilience in the event of disruption to services across the English Channel has gone live in preparation for the UK’s originally planned exit from the EU on 31 October. It creates a permanent speed restriction and potential bottleneck near the turnoffs to the Channel Tunnel and the port of Dover.

Lorries heading for mainland Europe will be routed down the coastbound carriageway north of Junction 8 (for Hollingbourne/Leeds) to Junction 9 (Ashford), under a 30mph speed limit.

All other traffic will be directed onto the London-bound carriageway, with two lanes in each direction operating at 50mph.

Elsewhere along the M20, work continues to upgrade 6.5 miles near Maidstone to a so-called smart motorway (essentially, a motorway with no hard shoulder for vehicles to pull over safely after a breakdown).

Work to create a new junction at Ashford, junction 10a is being fast tracked to have key sections of the new junction open for traffic by 31 October.

Tags: Brexit; Department for Transport