MOTORISTS finally have something to smile about after Kent County Council (KCC) announced Grosvenor Bridge will be opened ‘ahead of schedule’.
Thousands of commuters and parents making the school run have been forced to endure convoluted detours since the overpass was closed for maintenance at the start of the year.
Both phase one; to replace some of the concrete piers supporting the structure, and phase two; resurfacing and waterproofing the bridge, will have been completed while “the final touches are being undertaken to reinstate the site below the bridge.”
Improvements include; reconstructed supports, new road and footpath surfacing, new bridge joints and a new high friction surface on the approach to the traffic lights at the top of Grosvenor Bridge.
KCC say this means the bridge will now reopen ‘in August’, although a specific date has not been mentioned.
However, when the project was first mooted, it was due to begin in June last but was delayed because Network Rail had to divert a high-voltage cable.
They were then supposed to start by end of last year, before businesses protested about the impact on the Christmas trade. When work commenced in January the finishing date proposed as August 31, but was later set back to September.
