Measures are being put in place to avoid traffic chaos in Kent this weekend.

The RAC warns it could be the busiest late May Bank Holiday on the roads since before the pandemic.

Up to 5,500 cars and 350 coaches are expected at the Port of Dover on Friday alone, the BBC reports.

But in total, around 3.3 million journeys are expected to be made each day from Saturday to Monday across the UK.

And bosses at the port say they are prepared for the influx of travellers heading to Europe and have introduced a number of measures to stop traffic clogging up the town.

They say additional measures are being taken for coaches to better manage queues, with extra border control booths and additional staffing at the French border.

There are also arrangements to manage peak periods of coach travel away from Dover’s Eastern docks, and to have a better flow of coach and lorry traffic across Kent roads and into the town.

Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover said: “We work hard all year round to try to manage traffic flows to reduce the impact on the town from our busy port operations.

“At peak times, this can be challenging.

“We are continually looking at ways to improve border facilities and traffic management.

“It will be a busy period again this weekend, but we are working hard with operators, the Kent Resilience Forum, French border control and the Department of Transport to seek to reduce the impact and period of traffic congestion during expected peak times.”

Following a meeting with Mr Bannister, Dover’s MP Natalie Elphicke said: “We all understand that there are peak periods when thousands of cars, lorries and coaches will be travelling through the port to France and beyond.

“It’s vital that there is effective planning and deployment of border controls and traffic management plans to try to minimise the impact of extra road traffic and to keep Dover clear.

“It is clear that there has been a lot of work undertaken by the port to try to reduce the expected impact on Dover town.

“I will be keeping a very close eye on how these arrangements work this weekend.”

Research by the RAC and INRIX says Friday may turn out to be busiest day of all when a projected three million getaway trips are made by those seeking to enjoy the long weekend sharing the roads with commuters finishing work.

They expect the M25 to be a hotspot for traffic jams, with journeys on some stretches – including anticlockwise towards the Dartford crossing – taking up to three times longer than normal.

Controversial traffic management scheme Operation Brock on the M20 was brought back in over the weekend by the Kent Resilience Forum (KRF).

It was deployed with the hope of easing traffic on Kent’s roads to help cope with the extra traffic expected.

The 50mph limit and narrow lanes in the contraflow are in place between Junction 8 for Maidstone and Junction 9 for Ashford in a bid to keep traffic moving.