The London-bound carriageway of the A2 at Jubilee Way, Dover, is to be closed for more than a month as maintenance work is carried out to the road, 36 years after it was first opened.

A public exhibition giving details of the work is being held on Wednesday, from 4-7pm at Dover Town Council offices, Maison Dieu House, next to the town hall, when Highways Agency project staff will be on hand to answer questions.

The scheme will start in August and is due to be completed in mid-October. Agency officials say clearly-signed diversions will be in place during the closures.

The first phase of the scheme will start on Monday and will involve overnight carriageway closures in both directions starting the following week on August 12, 13, 14, 28 and 30.

The second phase will start on Monday September 9 when the London-bound carriageway will be closed until Monday October 14. The coastbound carriageway will remain open to traffic between 6am and 8pm, Monday to Saturday, with work being carried out overnight and on Sundays.

All overnight work will be carried out between 8pm and 6am.

Highways Agency structures manager Bala Vishnubala said: “Maintaining the bridge will provide safe and reliable journeys on this key route. We replaced bridge joints earlier this year which had come to the end of their life and are now returning to carry out maintenance on other components to prolong the life of this important structure.

“We will need to have overnight carriageway closures and some daytime closures to complete the scheme safely and by grouping the work together into one scheme we will minimise disruption by reducing the total number of closures required. I would encourage anyone who may be affected by the work to come along and find out more about the work, and what they can do to stay ahead of the traffic.”

Jubilee Way was opened in 1977 - the Queen’s Silver Jubilee year - and was designed to take heavy traffic away from the town. Originally the viaduct section was over water, until the docks expanded.

There were many fatal and serious injury crashes on the three-lane section of the road, just above the viaduct, in the early years, with the Coroner calling for changes to be made. As a result, the road markings were altered to provide two lanes of traffic London bound, and banning overtaking on the single coast-bound lane.