Highway bosses say they plan to reopen motorway slip roads next week after being shut for months due to roadworks.

The coastbound entry and exit of the M2 at Junction 5 for Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Maidstone have been closed since September 11 last year.

National Highways have now confirmed the slip roads are set to reopen on Monday morning, subject to weather conditions.

The closure is part of the £92 million upgrade of the Stockbury roundabout, which will see the A249 become a flyover.

The reopening date of the slip roads has been pushed back twice, with cold weather being blamed for the delay.

Meanwhile, motorists have faced long delays with increased traffic using routes such as the A2, where temporary traffic lights in Key Street and Bapchild this week have made queues even worse.

There has also been more pressure on Junction 3 of the M2 at Blue Bell Hill which forms part of the official diversion route.

The closure of the coastbound entry and exit points was initially planned to end on January 13 while the government-owned company completed works creating new slip roads.

However, the recent cold snap twice delayed the reopening with bosses in December extending the works by 10 days to January 23, just days after confirming the weather had not affected its reopening.

Earlier this month, the closure was extended a further week, with a National Highways spokesman saying: "We’ve made good progress on the coastbound slip roads recently but due to the cold weather we’re currently experiencing and forecast for the rest of the week, we’ll be unable to complete the last stages of the work such as putting down the final layer of surfacing and line painting.

"If we carry out the work when it’s too cold, the surface quickly freezes, becomes brittle and could crack, meaning we’d need to return and resurface the slips again, causing further disruption.

"We’d like to apologise that the slips aren’t reopening when planned but unfortunately the freezing temperatures this week, have caused the delay."

The reopening will see some changes to the road layout, meaning vehicles accessing A249 towards Sittingbourne from the M2 coastbound will need to use lane 1 of the slip, with a new segregated lane onto the northbound carriageway.

Drivers travelling northbound on the A249 towards the Stockbury roundabout will need to be in lane 1 to access the M2 eastbound on slip, as this lane is now for the slip road only.

All other A249 traffic, including those heading towards Sittingbourne, will need to use lane 2 on approach to the roundabout.

Drone pictures have revealed just what progress has been made as part of the revamp of one of the county's busiest roundabouts.

The upgrade to the roundabout was given the green light in June 2021, and its flyover promises to cut queues on the congested A249.

The closures have meant motorists travelling coastbound along the M2 have had to follow diversions when heading to Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Maidstone, unable to enter and exit the A249 at Junction 5.