Concrete bridge beams for the new Stockbury flyover have begun being craned into place as progress continues on the £92 million project.

Over the last two days engineers and construction workers at the site by the Stockbury Roundabout, between Maidstone and Sittingbourne, have been using a 500-tonne mega crane to place 18 pre-cast beams that will make up the new road deck on the Maidstone side of the flyover.

The beams measure around 22.5 metres in length, around the same as two double-decker buses, and have been placed on supports – also known as abutments – to sit on.

On Wednesday (August 16) the first beam, an edge beam weighing 56-tonnes (about the same as eight fully-grown African elephants) was placed.

Today (August 17) the remainder of the middle beams, which weigh 20-tonnes each, and the final edge beam will also be laid.

Daniel Rollinson, National Highways project manager for the flyover, explained all work is on track for the new traffic management system to be completed by the end of 2024.

Speaking yesterday, the 34-year-old from Ramsgate said: “Today is a huge milestone for the project.

“We are lifting in the bridge beams for the southern bridge on the south side of the roundabout.

“So 18 beams in total are being lifted in and they will form what will be the southern bridge over the roundabout.

“It’s been a long time coming, a lot of work we’ve done to this point, so almost two years has been leading to this. We’ve had to do a lot of preparation work to get here.

“A lot of people would have seen the construction of the retaining walls of the main structure so this is the next thing in line with the program so it’s a really big step for us.”

He added: “The project is going really well and we are on track.

“We really appreciate that people bear with us.

“We know we will have some road closures to come that will create disruption but they are necessary and we try and plan as best we can to limit disruption so thank you for your patience.”