Quick Removable Barriers To Be Used To Improve Operation Stack

Minister for Roads, Dr Stephen Ladyman, today announced that he has taken the decision to use Quick Moveable Barrier (QMB) to improve Phase 1 of Operation Stack in Kent.

Operation stack is the name for the police led operation to deal with traffic when there is severe disruption at the ports of Dover and Folkestone.

When Phase 1 of Operation Stack is put in place, the M20 coast bound carriageway is closed from Junction 11, Stanford, to Junction 12, Folkestone, and heavy goods vehicles heading to the ports are "stacked" on the M20. Light traffic is diverted at Junction 11 onto the A20 which leads to congestion on local roads. Using the QMB will stop this as it provides a contraflow on the London bound carriageway and allows all motorway traffic to remain on the road rather than be diverted onto the A20. Using the QMB, two lanes would be in use on the M20 in both directions.

Stephen Ladyman, Roads Minister, said: "We believe that the QMB will provide an effective improvement for Phase 1 and that it can be in place within a year. This is part of the Governments ongoing commitment to tackle congestion and improve journey time reliability."

"Ultimately, the vision we share with Kent County Council (KCC) and Kent Police is for a lorry park to hold vehicles during closures of Dover Harbour thus enabling M20 motorway traffic to travel with the minimum of disruption."

£12.6 million will be invested in implementing the QMB to improve Phase 1 of Operation Stack. We are also investigating increasing the capacity of Phase 1 and the deployment of the QMB on M20 junctions 10-11 as an alternative to Operation Stack Phase 2 which uses M20 junctions 8-9.

The decision to deploy QMB results from meetings between the DfT, Highways Agency, Kent Police and Kent County Council which looked at the preferred short and long term solutions to Operation Stack.