A busy carriageway is to be reduced to one lane with a 50mph speed limit for several months.

The roadworks are to enable a revamp of the A249 Grovehurst Road junction between Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

A Kent County Council (KCC) spokesman said: “Work needs to begin on the southbound side of the A249, heading towards Stockbury.

“This includes installing a piling rig, which will be used to lay foundations for the new bridge. To complete this safely, a temporary lane closure needs to be put in place.”

In the autumn the A249 was reduced to one lane southbound towards Stockbury, between the Cowstead Corner roundabout on Sheppey and the Grovehurst Road junction in Sittingbourne.

The work started on Friday, October 13 and lasted for several weeks – causing a number of headaches for both commuters and residents.

It led to hundreds of pupils arriving late to school after they sat on buses for more than an hour-and-a-half, and was eventually removed.

The £32.7m revamp was given the green light by county councillors in March 2022.

The scheme is using the existing bridge but will replace the dumbbell design with a new one-way gyratory incorporating a second bridge.

KCC rephased the work to begin in January.

Now, instead of the single-lane restriction being in place on the entire length of the Sheppey Crossing, traffic will begin to merge after the entry slip road from the Kingsferry Bridge thereby reducing the length of roadworks required in this direction.

The KCC spokesman said: “The alteration in the traffic management has been achieved by working with National Highways to review the reduced length, to ensure there are no compromises in public or construction worker safety. A temporary 50mph speed limit will be in place for the length of the roadworks.

“The alternative traffic management arrangement will reduce the impact on travel time and traffic movements on Sheppey, however, it is likely that road users will still experience some delays during the morning peak.”

The closure will be brought in on January 8 and removed in the summer.

Cabinet member for highways and transport, Neil Baker, said: “We understand that major projects like this cause disruption but we are committed to minimising this as much as possible.

“That is why we have listened to feedback from the community and worked with our contractor and National Highways to come up with an alternative way of managing traffic when we are working on site.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and remove and adapt the traffic management when we can.”