Public exhibitions are being held to display plans for the new section of smart motorway between junctions 3 and 5 of the M20.

Highways England will begin work on the 6.5-mile stretch between Borough Green and Aylesford in March, converting the hard shoulder into a permanent running lane and introducing variable speed limits.

The £92.17m project aims to improve capacity and flow and is due to be finished by January 2020.

For the majority of the section four lanes will be created by converting the hard shoulder, while five emergency areas will be installed with emergency telephones and CCTV.

New message signs will be fitted and 10 signs refurbished. Today, officials will answer questions from 3pm to 9pm at Ryarsh Village Hall, Birling Road.

Tomorrow they will be at Trottiscliffe Village Hall, Church Lane, from 10am to 5pm, while next week there will be a display at the Capel Morris Centre, Hall Road, Royal British Legion Village from 3pm to 9pm next Friday and 10am to 5pm next Saturday.

Kaluba Kampandila, Highways England project manager, said: "This new stretch of smart motorway will tackle congestion and improve journey times for more than 112,000 drivers who use it every day.

"Smart motorways are central to our ambitious plans for modernising the motorway network, and will add 120 miles of new lanes to motorways in the South East by 2020.

"Smart motorways add vital extra capacity, improve journey times and maintain high levels of safety. Drivers will also see better information about conditions through new smart motorway technology which helps us to manage incidents, smooth traffic flow and make journeys more reliable.

"I urge anyone interested in the upgrade of the M20 to a smart motorway to come to one of the information events and talk to the team to find out more."