Residents believe the “traffic chaos” caused by the closure of a major route has given them a taste of things to come when two-month roadworks begin.

Both carriageways running along the A299 New Thanet Way between Whitstable and Herne Bay will take it in turns to shut for four weeks from the beginning of April.

With much of the coast- and London-bound traffic expected to be directed along the neighbouring Old Thanet Way, locals fear there will be gridlock on the approach to the towns at Estuary View and Greenhill.

And after two crashes along the A299 on Monday morning brought the area to a standstill, campaigners say motorists have been given “a real-world example of what might happen” next month.

Tankerton councillor Neil Baker told KentOnline: “Nobody likes seeing serious accidents and it is terrible for everyone involved.

“It gives a real-world example of what might happen if the closure and diversion goes ahead as planned because there has been a lot of congestion across a wide area.”

In one of the accidents this week, a woman in her 30s tragically died when a blue Vauxhall Mokka she was driving hit roadside furniture on the London-bound carriageway.

While emergency services were at the scene, motorists were diverted for hours along the Old Thanet Way between Herne Bay and Whitstable.

Traffic was brought to a standstill, with surrounding routes such as Canterbury Road in Herne and Sea Street in Herne Bay also gridlocked.

Kent County Council officials say the April closure will allow teams to replace the lights in the Chestfield tunnel and carry out “deep carriageway reconstruction repairs”.

Cllr Baker and three of his Conservative colleagues - Mark Dance, Rob Thomas and Dan Watkins - have been pushing for a contraflow system to be used while the the work takes place.

“This will mean that when one side is closed, the other will be used for two-flow traffic, which can be done,” he continued.

“When you’re closing a large arterial route like that, traffic has to go somewhere.

“The reason the New Thanet Way was built is because the old one couldn’t handle the traffic, and that was before all the extra cars now and the changes which makes it less suitable.

“Obviously it is reducing capacity but it is keeping more capacity overall on the two Thanet Ways.”

A notice written by the county council states the lighting in the Chestfield tunnel needs replacing as it “has reached the end of its life”.

The authority will close the Thanet-bound side for 24 hours a day between April 24 and May 26.

It will then seal off the carriageway used by motorists heading towards London until June 30.

And to make matters worse, Herne Bay-to-Canterbury rat-run Bullockstone Road will remain closed until the end of July.

Cllr Baker fears there will be “major gridlock over a large area across a sustained period”.

“The economic impact of it will be huge as we live in a world where people rely on things getting from A to B in a reasonable amount of time,” he added.

Fellow Whitstable councillor Chris Cornell, who also supports the use of a contraflow system, believes “there is going to be traffic chaos”.

The Labour politician says an accident along the Old Thanet Way will make the situation even worse.

Motorists are already facing delays on the approach to Herne Bay because of the closure of Bullockstone Road, which has been shut off since August to be reconfigured with two new roundabouts.

“You have to close roads as part of general maintenance, but every time there is a major road closure there is absolutely no common sense,” Cllr Cornell said.

“Nobody considers the impact of multiple road closures all at once.”

Responding to the concerns, a county council spokesman said: “We acknowledge the disruption these vitally important works will cause, which will ensure the future safety of this route.

“KCC is aware of concerns from members of the public, and we are looking at what else we can do to mitigate the impact on communities and minimise disruption as far as possible.”