A stretch of road which has been worked on for the past five and half weeks will finally reopen today.

The A229 on Blue Bell Hill has been causing chaos for drivers as two lanes of the Chatham-bound carriageway has been closed for roadworks.

SGN has been carrying out the emergency repairs – replacing 180m of metallic mains with a modern plastic pipe – since Sunday, November 6.

Motorists have had to face weeks of delays and long queues, with many choosing to cut down country lanes to avoid the traffic.

Home owners and dog walkers in the surrounding areas have said they feel trapped in their homes and are "frightened" of people using the shortcuts.

The road was also completely closed overnight on Thursday, December 1, due to a "horizontal directional drill procedure" but was reopened at 6am the following day.

Originally SGN predicted the works would take six to seven weeks to complete, however following discussions with MP Tracey Crouch, they said it could be finished ahead of schedule.

After carrying out a "period of reinstatement" to restore the area to its original state, they had hoped to reopen all lanes by, on Sunday, December 11.

The Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford, updated residents in a Facebook post yesterday.

She shared a message from SGN, which read: "We've completed our urgent work to replace a section of our gas network along the A229 at Blue Bell Hill is ongoing.

"However, due to compacted ice and snow, the two northbound lanes on the A229, close to the Chatham Road on-slip, remain closed to motorists for everyone’s safety.

"There is also no access to the A229 northbound from Chatham Road."

KCC Highways Gritting Kent also posted a statement on their Facebook page.

It said: "We are working with SGN on A229 Blue Bell Hill to try and clear the closed lanes of ice and snow so that all lanes can be reopen overnight.

"This may take some time before all lanes are safe enough to be used by traffic."

A spokesman for SGN has now confirmed that the road will be back to normal sometime today – four days ahead of schedule.

They said: "The road surface has been restored to its original condition.

"KCC has gritted the road and, all being well, we hope to be able to reopen the road before tomorrow.

"We’d like to thank local residents and road users for their patience and understanding while we carried out this essential work."

Many motorists expressed their relief over the news of reopening.

Laura Flack commented: "I actually felt dread as I left work tonight at the thought of the queue, I'm so grateful that we'll be back to three lanes shortly. Well done to the gas workers too!"

Shelley Watson added: "Thank you, can’t wait to be able to turn left again out of Kit's Coty, it’s added 40 minutes onto our journey."