A299 Thanet Way

We needed to fix the poor ride caused by ground movement under the road. To do this, we need to reconstruct part of the A229 Thanet Way.

What has changed

We rebuilt the eastbound (or coast-bound) lane of the A229 Thanet Way. The location of the works was between the off-slip from the A299 to Whitstable. And, the on-slip from Whitstable to the A299.

To do this, we dug up the road to a significant depth, and rebuilt it using:

• stronger construction
• specialist geotextile materials
• different sized aggregates
• multiple layers of asphalt.

Why we made the changes

Over the years, sections of the A299 Thanet Way have deteriorated. As the road's underlying clay subsoil moves, it can cause problems. The weather also makes it worse, and as a result the soil expands and contracts.

We've tried to fix the problem before. Once the problem became hazardous, we renewed the road's upper surface between 40mm and 150mm. These fixes did stop the problem. But, they aren't cost-effective. The hot weather and wet weather can cause the issue to return.

In the past two years, we have carried out deep ground investigations. We have used surveys and excavation of trial pits to look at the layers beneath the road by:

• recording the area
• taking photographs
• taking samples.

To fix the issue permanently, we rebuilt the affected areas. This meant we needed to close the road for a longer time.

We hope the road will be stronger for years to come and be better for all.

Latest updates

1 June 2024

Works are now complete.

14 May 2024

We made very good progress and were ahead of our original programme. With our new aim of opening the road by 1 June, instead of 20 July.

15 April 2024

The contraflow system was in place. It stayed until our reconstruction works finished in July. We kept an eye on the flow of the traffic during this time.

13 April 2024

The reconstruction phase of our project began. We removed over 3,000 tonnes of road surface.

2 April 2024

As part of our preliminary works, we successfully upgraded the Chestfield Tunnel crossover point. We completed this ahead of schedule on 23 March.

Our main area of work started at 7pm on Friday, 5 April. However, we didn't close the London-bound road until the night of 7 April.

During the nights of 5 and 6 of April, our contractors set up signs to support the road closure.