A temporary 50mph speed limit will be in place on the A299 Thanet Way, on a nine mile stretch in both directions between Dargate Services and Roman Galley from tonight (September 17).
Kent County Council says this is an urgent safety measure due to the danger posed by areas of uneven road surface caused by this summer’s heatwaves. These areas are especially hazardous for motorcyclists, so the council is acting quickly to keep people safe.
The problem is caused by the clay soil under the road, which expands when it’s wet and shrinks as it dries. This movement damages the road surface over time.
Even though millions of pounds have been spent maintaining the road over the past ten years, recent inspections have found six key areas of concern.
A temporary speed limit has been put in place to reduce immediate risks to drivers, but if the road gets worse the council may also need to close lanes. Options for permanent repairs are currently under review.
A spokesperson from Kent County Council said: “We know this will be frustrating news to many people and we apologise for the disruption this may cause. But people’s safety must come first.
“These temporary speed limits are essential while we assess the damage. I would urge drivers to slow down and stay alert while driving through this stretch of the A299 – your caution helps to keep everyone safe.”
Again ! It wasn’t that long ago the thanet way had this problem. Seems to be an on going problem.
How is the thanet way going to copy with hundreds of hgv every day when the airport opens ?
Thanet way can’t cope with today’s traffic
When the temporary repairs were done last time ( from memory) they cost 5 million, temporary because there was’nt the 50 million available to make permanent repairs. I also seem to recall that the temporary repairs were meant to last 10 years, clearly they have’nt. Anyone that knows the bad sections avoids them and uses lane 2, won’t be long until lane 1 is deemed unusable and roads ends up single carriageway.
Hopefully our MP will be lobbying for a permanent solution this time round, though iI won’t be golding my breath for it get done before the next GE and she still have a seat.
I expect that the road will have been repaired many times before Manston opens.
“Seems to be an on going problem.”
Aye, its almost as if most of kent is chalk/clay and will have these issues regardless of where the road is built. You see the same issues on the single track “green lanes” round Elham/Bossingham, the a20/a2, m2, a249, a256 et al Its what happens when roads are built in places where roads aren’t really suitable to be built.
Temporary? If it’s anything like the last ‘temporary’ limit, imposed for the same reason, it will be in place for a couple of years – and largely ignored.
Well of course it won’t be climate change that’s having an effect because those oh so clever climate specialists now running KCC say it doesn’t exist.
It’s not. They never repaired it properly in the first place.
Aye Petey, these ever increasing in frequency and intensity heat waves have nowt to do with climate change…Denying reality is all well and good until it comes to bite you on the butt.
I was in a car just days after it reopened, as were many others who noticed how bumpy it already was. But you remain indenial of poor workmanship and blame climate change if it makes you feel better.
Did you listen to some Chas & Dave or Tremloes or Little Richard? Guaranteed to make you forget bumby roads (unlike Duane Eddy’s classic ’40 Miles of Bad Road’!).
So exactly how many were in this car then ?
I tend to prefer more modern music, not the music of the era where you peaked in life.
I normally listen to ,” Davys on the road again ” or “Road to hell” when on the planet Thanet way !
I was 4 years old when The Tremeloes peaked (and not born yet when Little Richard was at his peak). Great music is timeless. What gives you joy then? Boy George? Bronski Beat? Erasure?
Dave, I listen to ‘The Road to Nowhere’ whenever I go to Ramsgate! ; )
Nothing to do with climate change. Those lumpy bits, especially up the hill west from The Roman Galley have had similar troubles for over half a century that I remember. Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to be rebuilt – yet again – as has been opined elsewhere on here, it will take a couple of years to get repaired.
What about the roller-coaster section London-bound between St. Nicks roundabout and Herne Bay? That needs urgent attention as well.
It’s dreadful! We got a taxi home from Gatwick last week, and the driver from Croydon couldn’t believe how bad the roads are here (many of the signs are blocked by overgrown trees and bushes too!).
I came down this stretch in both directions this morning, and the same problem emerges as when they had the 50mph zone in the tunnel – less than half the traffic is doing 50, and the rest is doing 80, which just makes it more dangerous than it was before.
If the 50s stay in the left hand lane (driving 20 under for a motorway restrictions dual carriageway) so the rest can do the national speed limit, then isn’t an issue(80mph = 10%+2mph). What device did you use to measure other drivers speed and when was it last calibrated, out of interest?
Oh I have these little head-mounted devices called “eyes”, useful for reading things on the internet and then formulating pointless, self-satisfied replies. I’d have thought a rhetorical mastermind like yourself would have a set.
Brilliant!
“People can’t judge speed accurately because of the “adaptation effect,” where their perception of what’s normal changes after brief exposure to different speeds, and errors in 3D perception, especially for oncoming vehicles. Other factors include the environment, the vehicle’s speed, and the observer’s level of attention or state of mind”
Your eyes aren’t to be trusted. So again, what device did you use to calibrate their speed?
All the flavours in the world, why choose salty Margaluf?
Initially the newish Thanet Way (A299) was poorly though out and constructed. It is well known among the older residents of Thanet who travel backwards and forwards that this section of road floats. If KCC Highways had seriously looked at the old Thanet way they will have seen that the road was built higher than at present. In the initial planning of the new road Kent Highways acknowledged the clay issue but chose to ignore this issue. I retain the original documents released by Kent Highways.
Why is it more dangerous for motorcyclists? Many of them (and I was one of them) rode up and down there during the charity ride for the Pilgrims Hospice last Sunday.I didn’t see any accidents occur because of a few bumps in the road.The trouble nowadays is the nanny state thinking it knows what’s best for us.Does anybody remember the suicide lane before the road was dualed? The road is far safer now than the old days.
you should tell your peers to stop riding like bellends when they break off from the procession tbh. NM the amount of illegal silencers/silencer deletes.
If only you had a silencer.
Plenty of ‘bellend’ car drivers around too these days.
The original Thanet Way never had sinking issues. Was that because it was made by our German cousins ?