Motorists travelling along the A228 near Halling over the next three months will be suffering delays as road improvements and the speed limit is reduced on a section of the road.

The roadworks which started on yesterday are set to last about 12 weeks and will see a new toucan crossing near the St Andrews Park development and will eventually see the speed limit reduced to 40mph outside the new housing estate.

The works, on the Formby Road stretch of the road, will also see the roundabout which leads to Kent Road and the village (Halling) realigned and a new junction running off the roundabout will lead to St Andrews Park, which is being built by housing giant Redrow.

Contractors will also be realigning a footpath and carrying out resurfacing work on the carriageway.

A new bus stop will also be installed on the road outside the estate.

Residents in Halling were worried about the works and how long they would take and a parish meeting held earlier this month saw many villagers turn up to air their views about the roadworks.

The Halling Parish Council office received more than 50 complaints about the proposed works after a newsletter put up in the village informing them of what was happening.

Many were worried the works would lead to traffic jams and more congestion in the village high street while others worried what effect the toucan crossing would have on traffic flow on the busy A228, particularly during rush-hour times.

Medway Council and Redrow representatives went along to the meeting to try and allay people’s fears and so far this week, there have not been serious problems for people living in the village.

However, people travelling from the West Malling area towards Medway along the road experienced long traffic jams today, which led to at least 15 minute delays.

One pensioner who lives in the Halling but didn’t want to be named said: “Monday was not a lot different but this morning between 7am and 9am there seemed to be a slight increase the amount of traffic coming through especially vans heading north to Strood.”

Later in the year, contractors also plan to build footbridge over the road near St Andrews Park to provide a safer more convenient means of crossing the road.

A spokesperson for Redrow said: “Highways and safety improvement works on the A228 started on Monday, July 25 and are expected to take 12 weeks.

“As agreed with Medway Council this will include footpath realignment, realignment of the roundabout and an arm from the roundabout to our St Andrew’s Park development, plus bus stop relocation, resurfacing works and the installation of a toucan crossing. The works will be carried out during the daytime using narrow lanes and a 30 mph speed restriction to maintain traffic flow and keep disruption to a minimum. The exception to this will be the resurfacing works; this will be carried out under traffic lights at night time as the last activity. It is envisaged that this will take five nights to complete.

“At the end of the works the speed limit outside St Andrew’s Park will be reduced 40 mph.

“Subject to technical approval from Medway Council work to install a new footbridge is preliminarily programmed to start construction in mid-November.

“Between them, the toucan crossing and footbridge will provide safe and convenient means of crossing the A228 and minimal disruption to vehicles using this route.”