Work to install lights along a notorious unlit stretch of the M20 is to begin next month - thanks to a Kent Messenger campaign.

The KM Lights for Life Campaign was launched in 2005 after an inquest into the deaths of three men at junction 3 of the M20/M26 at Wrotham.

Nineteen-year-olds Ricci Parker and Kevin Wratten, both from Snodland, and 33-year-old Jimmy Atirene, from Orpington, all died in the horrific night-time crash.

The inquest heard the accident was caused initially when the Vauxhall car driven by Mr Parker hit the back of a lorry and span into the outside lane. Three following vehicles, including a motorbike driven by Mr Atirene, then hit the car. Witnesses said it was impossible to see the crashed Vauxhall until the last moment because it was so dark.

The Highways Agency bowed to pressure and accepted lights were needed - and has kept its pledge.

Designed by the agency’s consultants, Mouchel, the £2m project will use up-to-the-minute technology to minimise the carbon footprint of the lights and lessen light pollution.

A total of 144 energy-efficient single lights are to be installed on the verges along both sides of the M20 and along one side of both the London and the coast-bound slip roads to the M26. The lights, which will begin well before the junction on the Maidstone side, will be placed 35m apart and will illuminate a 2.1km (1.31 miles)stretch of the motorway.

There will be no lights on the central reservation. The Agency says this will avoid future disruption to motorists, as the verge-side lights can be maintained using only the hard-shoulder without the need for lane closures.

The lamps are specifically designed to throw light only over the carriageway, without any thrown back towards the countryside.

Project sponsor Clive Cooper said: “This was a big issue for us. We are aware that this is very much a rural location, indeed the land to the north is an area of outstanding natural beauty, and we wanted to ensure there was no unnecessary light pollution.”

Most of the lights will be partially obscured by a belt of trees, but more trees will be planted in the gaps.

The Agency has also gone to great lengths to mitigate the impact on wildlife.

An ecological survey revealed that both Daubentons and Pipistrelle bats roost to the south of the motorway and use an underpass to fly through to feed over lakes and ponds to the north. This will remain undisturbed.

Both great crested newts and badgers have been found to live on the land to the north.

To prevent the newts inadvertantly migrating into the construction area, a 1ft high reptile fence will surround the site. But to allow for the badgers, capable of breaking a hole through a standard reptile fence, a collapsible fence will be put. This will give way when a badger pushes against it, but will spring back up to keep the newts out.

Both Tonbridge and Malling MP Sir John Stanley (Con) and Chatham and Aylesford MP Jonathan Shaw (Lab) joined the Lights for Life campaign, jointly pressing the case with the then highways Minister Dr Stephen Ladyman.

With fears that the cost would railroad the scheme, Melissa Finnis and Reg Parker, the parents of one of the crash victims, launched their own fund-raising campaign with events such as a strong-man contest, fancy dress competition and sponsored hike, raising £10,000.

This week, a delighted Sir John Stanley said the scheme could not come soon enough.

He added: “I hope there will be no slippage in the schedule since this junction is at its most dangerous in bad weather conditions and in the dark winter months.”

Since the 2003 tragedy, there have been two more fatal accidents at the junction.

In December 2005 a 60-year-old woman from Capel-Le Ferne was killled, and in February 2007, a foreign national died in a five-car pile-up.

During the the campaign, it emerged from Government statistics that in a 10-year period there had been 165 accidents on the M20 between Junction 3 and Junction 5 (Aylesford). Of those, the number that resulted in death or serious injury had been twice as high as the national average.

Specifically at Junction 3, between April 2003 and April 2007, there had been 61 recorded accidents with 25 of them happening at night.

During work to install the lights, the motorway will operate with three narrowed lanes and a 50mph speed limit.

The work will be carried out by Lafrage and will be co-ordinated with a separate project to install noise reduction barriers on the M20 at junction 4 (Leybourne/West Malling).It is due to be completed by next January.