New drone footage and pictures have revealed the latest road layout changes at the Stockbury roundabout.

Work is progressing on the £92 million flyover project which is set to ease congestion at one of Kent’s busiest junctions, used by traffic travelling between Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Maidstone.

Recent aerial shots taken by Philip Drew show headway being made on the new coastbound M2 link road from the A249.

They also show the new Sheppey-bound sliproad onto the A249 for motorists who have left the coastbound M2.

The freshly tarmacked road can be seen next to the lanes which will eventually be made into the flyover, allowing cars going between Maidstone and Sheppey to continue without stopping.

It was just three months ago that drone images showed the newly-remodelled link roads opened.

Compared to pictures which were taken in January the new layout looks unrecognisable.

New roads have been laid to allow traffic to continue as normal as work begins on the flyover.

However, the progress doesn’t come without disruption and more closures are scheduled over the coming month.

The link between the M2 Junction 5 coastbound exit and the A249 Sheppey-bound will be closed from 8pm on Wednesday, July 12 until 8pm on Sunday, July 16.

This is so National Highways can prepare to move to the new link road.

A spokesman said: “During the closure, you will be able to join the A249 northbound from the Stockbury roundabout, which will remain open as usual.

“On Sunday, July 16, we’ll need to fully close the coastbound exit slip between 8pm and 5am to paint the new road markings.”

When the road reopens at 5am on Monday, July 17, traffic will use the new link when joining the A249 Sheppey-bound from the M2 coastbound and the Stockbury roundabout.

For full details, click here.

The spokesman continued: “June has been a busy month and we’ve seen excellent progress.

“On June 12, we hit a huge milestone for the scheme, the opening of our new Maidstone Road link.

“As soon as it opened, we saw this link from Maidstone Road to Oad Street, and from there, on to the A249 southbound, being used.

“It forms an important part of our finished scheme, as it will join to the Stockbury roundabout via the new Oad Street link – the road currently being used by southbound traffic leaving the roundabout.

“The link to Stockbury is set to be completed early summer 2024.”

National Highways has also been changing the way traffic approaches and leaves the Stockbury roundabout, and traffic travelling Maidstone-bound on the A249 towards the roundabout moved onto the new slip at the beginning of last month.

The spokesman said: “This change has allowed us to start work on the north side of the new flyover, and you may have noticed our excavators removing the old A249 carriageway to make way for construction.

“Last month also saw progress on the south side of the new flyover. We’ve nearly finished the construction of the retaining walls, with almost 70% of the panels now in place.

“As the walls are built, our bulldozers, tippers and excavators have been working simultaneously on backfilling them with earth to create a solid structure for the new road.”

Piling work has also been completed in preparation for the next support structure on the south side of the roundabout with construction due to start this month.

The spokesman added: “If you travel on the A249, you may have also noticed a new road under construction to the west of the carriageway.

“This is the new northbound slip onto the A249 from the M2 coastbound, which we’ll be opening soon.”

If you have any questions about the work you can speak to the National Highways team in person at the Oad Street Food and Crafts café on Wednesday, July 12, between 10am and noon and again from 5pm to 7pm.