Part of the M20 is to shut tonight to allow for more moveable barrier works to take place.

The London-bound carriageway will close for several hours between Ashford and Maidstone while work on the barrier used during Operation Brock is carried out.

National Highways has been working on a project to widen the central reservation at a cost of £20 million.

Contractors have upgraded the middle of the motorway between Junctions 8 and 9 to allow the concrete barrier used to make the Operation Brock contraflow to be moved there.

To allow work to safely take place, a 50mph speed limit was imposed.

Having originally meant to be finished by spring, the repeated deployment of Brock pushed back the works deadline by a number of months.

It had been thought that work had been completed before Brock was brought back on July 13, in time for the summer holidays – but when it was removed three weeks later, restrictions on the coastbound side remained.

However, while the national speed limit has now been mostly reinstated, operations are still ongoing and there is one lane closure and 50mph limit on the London-bound carriageway close to Ashford.

The carriageway is now due to be closed for a brief period tonight (Friday, November 10) to allow work to take place and remove the lane closure.

The closure will take place between Junction 9 for Ashford and Junction 8 for Maidstone, from midnight until 4am tomorrow (Saturday).

A letter from National Highways to stakeholders seen by KentOnline says: “I am writing to inform you of a shortened overnight closure required to enable us to remove the last 24-hour lane closure located close to Junction 9.

“To carry this out safely, we will need to close the London-bound M20 between Junctions 9 and 8 from midnight on Friday, November 10 to 4am on Saturday, November 11.”

Elsewhere on the motorway, a huge pontoon the size of two tennis courts has been placed over a river to allow workers to carry out maintenance on one of the motorway’s bridges.

The route - which links Ashford Rugby Club in Kennington with the Heathfield Road estate – closed at the beginning of the month and is set to remain shut until the end of the year.

Engineers are in the process of carrying out maintenance to the concrete and steel that helps reinforce the bridge, to keep the structure secure.

Covering an area of roughly 550 sq m, the pontoon allows the team to get under the bridge and make repairs while traffic on the motorway continues to flow above.