M20 traffic warning this weekend

ME14addick

For anyone driving along the M20 this weekend, please note that Operation Brock is being put in place Wednesday night in anticipation of delays at Dover Port this weekend.

Operation Brock reduces the M20 between junctions 8 &9, to two lanes in each direction with a 50mph speed limit.

Anyone living in the area will know that Brock causes a lot of problems for everyone along the M20 corridor every time it is deployed, as any breakdowns or accidents in the contraflow, mean that the M20 comes to a halt.

It costs £250K every time Brock is deployed (putting it in place and the  removing it). It was put in place for two weeks over the Easter school holiday and after there were many reports on social media of no HGVs being stored in the Brock section, I sent a FOI request to National Highways to ask how many times they had to store HGVs because of congestion at Dover. The answer I received was that it was used for FOUR HOURS on Good Friday and wasn't needed for the rest of the two weeks it was in place. I consider this to be a sledge hammer to crack a nut, but Kent Resilience Forum say that it is necessary to keep Dover & Hawkinge clear.

ForeverAddickted

Cheers, was planning on heading to Leeds (not in Yorkshire for smart arses) on Saturday morning.

ME14addick

ForeverAddickted said:

Cheers, was planning on heading to Leeds (not in Yorkshire for smart arses) on Saturday morning.

I doubt that it would affect you going to Leeds castle, the only thing to be aware of is that you cannot access the M20 coastbound at junction 8, which means that any traffic leaving the J8 services has to go back to J7 to continue their coastbound journey. I've seen quite a few near misses on that roundabout as tourists often don't understand the Brock signage.