A299 Thanet Way closures scheduled at Whitstable and Herne Bay for maintenance works

Thanet Way

Kent County Council (KCC) has announced a programme of maintenance on the A299 New Thanet Way and Chestfield Tunnel between late April and June.

The works will upgrade lighting in the tunnel to LED and complete a deep reconstruction of sections of the road between Whitstable and Herne Bay, previously impacted by the weather.

The A299 will be closed eastbound (coastbound) from 8pm on Sunday 23rd April to 5am on Friday 26 May 2023. It will then be reopened before the westbound (London-bound) side is closed from 1am on Tuesday 30 May to 5am on Friday 30 June.

The closure will be from the Clapham Hill (Whitstable) and Eddington (Herne Bay) junctions and a signed diversion will be in place using the A2290 Old Thanet Way.

The cost of the road resurfacing has been covered following a successful bid from KCC for a £4 million grant from the Department for Transport’s Challenge Fund. This helps to ease the council’s cost burden.

KCC will also be investing £2 million in the upgrade of the lighting and its support system in the Chestfield Tunnel.

KCC’s Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, David Brazier, said: “This essential maintenance must be completed to ensure the ongoing integrity of the road and help us achieve our Net Zero objectives.

“While we acknowledge these works will cause a short period of disruption, completing them in the same period delivers on our aim to plan works in a way which is as smart as possible, minimising cost to taxpayers and inconvenience for residents and drivers as far as possible.

“I want to thank people in advance for their patience while our crews carry out these essential works.”

KCC say the works will be most effective when not done during the cold and wet months of the year. In scheduling this work we have sought to avoid the busiest months of the holiday season.

You can find out more about the planned works, including a map of the planned diversion route, by visiting the dedicated A229 New Thanet Way project website.

10 Comments

    • I use the T-way regularly and have never had an experience of aqua-planing, probably because I drive according to the conditions!
      Not a hard concept to adhere to, is it?

      • The whole straight section from Chambers wall to Grays is a death trap when it rains. There is severe rutting alongside the left hand lane from lorries.

        If you’re driving to the conditions (40 in a 60 when raining) you would STILL aquaplane. Physics ftw.

  1. 2 million for new lights in that short bit of tunnel? Makes maintaining the turner centre look cheap. And more money to be spent on the eternally sinking road. Any chance of putting it right properly.

    • You can thank the NCB for our sinking T-Way. Access tunnels to the coal seams off the North Kent Coast from Chislet colliery being the reason.
      Not an easy problem to solve I would guess.

    • Mining subsidence from Chislet colliery . Workings stretched from there to quite a way out to sea and is not an easy thing to put right. Very prevalent near the Roman galley also despite several carriageway repairs to cure it.

  2. Shame they dont litter pick the A299 with its polythene shhets everywhere,cans,tyres,a car bumper,coffee cups,dead wildlife ,builders materials etc…A contender for the filthiest road in Britain.

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